This incident linked to the nuclear industry had caused a stir in the summer of 2008. On the night of July 7 to 8, at least 20,000 liters of effluent containing uranium were accidentally released into the environment by the company Socatri, a subsidiary of Areva, which deals with radioactive waste on the site of Tricastin in Bollene in the Vaucluse.
Rivers and ground water surrounding the uranium had been contaminated at levels above the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO).The court believes, however, that no "adverse effects on health" or "no damage to the fauna and flora" could not be found.
Acquitted at trial in October 2010 of the offense of "water pollution that caused an adverse effect on health or damage to flora or fauna," the Socatri was convicted Friday by the Court of Appeal of Nîmes , the offense of "discharge of toxic substances into groundwater causing a significant change in the normal operation of water supply guaranteed high risk personal loans." Areva's subsidiary was fined 300,000 euros, to pay 20,000 euros in damages to each of the plaintiffs associations (including Greenpeace and the Nuclear Exit) and 10,000 euros in moral damages to a dozen residents. Of these, several had been forbidden to consume the water they were drawing ground water from their property.Some seeking compensation following the decline in the value of their homes due to the incident.
The Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), which classified the incident at 1 on the INES scale has seven who had criticized the Socatri him failing initially to provide information on pollution the environment.