2019-09-02 Bloomberg Businessweek

76

CURIE:

SCIENCE

SOURCE.

ACTINIUM:

COURTESY

OAK

RIDGE

NATIONAL

LABORATORY.

PROTACTINIUM:

COURTESY

U.S.

DOE.

THORIUM:

COURTESY

OAK

RIDGE

NATIONAL

LABORATORY.

DATA:

WORLD

NUCLEAR

ASSOCIATION

I

n 1933nuclearphysicistMarieCurie

hadoutgrownherlabintheLatin

QuarterincentralParis.Togiveher

thespaceneededforthemessytaskof

extractingradioactiveelementssuch

asradiumfromtruckloadsofore,the

UniversityofParisbuilta researchcen-

terinArcueil,a villagesouthofthe

city.Todayit’sgrownintoa crowded

working-classsuburb.Andthedilapi-

datedlab,setinanovergrowngarden

neara 17thcenturyaqueduct,is some-

timescalledChernobylontheSeine.

Nomajoraccidentsoccurredatthe

lab,whichclosedin1978.Butit’sbrim-

mingwithradioactivity that will be a

health threat for millennia, and France’s

nuclear watchdog has barred access to

anyone not wearing protective clothing.

The lab is surrounded by a concrete wall

topped by barbed wire and surveillance

cameras. Monitors constantly assess radi-

ation, and local officials regularly test the

river. “We’re proof that France has a seri-

ous nuclear waste problem,” says Arcueil

Mayor Christian Métairie. “Our situation

raises questions about whether the coun-

try is really equipped to handle it.”

Nuclear power accounts for almost

three-fourths of France’s electricity, vs.

a fifth in the U.S. There’s no lasting solu-

tion for the most dangerous refuse from

the country’s 906 nuclear waste sites,

including some of what’s in Arcueil.

Low-level material is to be sent to an

aboveground storage site in northeast-

ern France. But radium has a half-life

of 1,600 years, and there are traces of a

uraniumisotopeattheCurieannexwith

a half-lifeof4.5billion years. “France’s

nuclear industry is like a plane that

took off without a landing strip,” says

Yannick Rousselet, a Greenpeace cam-

paign leader.

The lab’s main building is covered

with dead vines, and the walls, flanking

a busy four-lane avenue, are a magnet for

graffiti artists. Although most sources of

radiation were removed in 1992, town

officialssayfarmoremustbedone.A

1997 studyconcludedthatpedestrians

andresidents of apartments just a few

feet from the perimeter wall aren’t at risk

of radiation poisoning, but officials say

the place remains a hazard. A wake-up

call came in 2010, when thieves broke

in and stole copper wiring. Police who

entered the confines, like the intruders,

risked radiation exposure because they

lacked protective garb—spurring protests

from the police union. The cleanup has

so far cost about €10 million, Métairie

says, though the final bill will likely be

much higher as the buildings are dis-

mantled and the site is decontaminated

in coming years. “We’re finally making

progress, but it’s really slow,” he says.

Remediation is tough, because most of

the lab’s scientists are long dead. (Curie

herself died from a blood ailment linked

to radiation poisoning a year after it

opened.) Andra, the government agency

that oversees radioactive waste, spent

more than a decade cataloging what’s at

Arcueil, finding radioactivity in solvents,

papers, shelving, a furnace, the soil, and

plants. “Knowledge of the work there

is patchy, complicating the operation,”

says Fabien Hubert, the Andra official in

charge of waste that’s not from reactors.

Curie and her husband, Pierre,

described how radium gives off heat and

glows in the dark, pioneering its use as

a cancer treatment. She won two Nobel

prizes—one in physics and one in chem-

istry. In the 1920s her work captured the

public’s imagination, leading to a craze

for radium face creams, water foun-

tains, razors, and even underwear—all

aimed at treating ailments from hair loss

to impotence to gout. Although most of

those have long been proved bogus or

toxic, radiotherapy remains a key cancer

therapy, and Curie’s work led to break-

throughs in theuseofX-rays.“Radium

was a huge discovery,”Métairiesays.“But

radioactivity isadouble-edged sword.” <BW>

◼ Radium $100m / kg In 1921

88

Ra

Radium

ByTaraPatel Franceis stillcleaninguptheNobellaureate’s

lab eight decades after her death

Marie Curie’s Mess

Curieinher Paris

labin 1925