French page

German page

phone : +33 (0)2.31.94.35.34

fax : +33 (0)2.31.94.85.31

e-mail : acro  altern.org

Our homepage is mainly in French, sorry, but you can find on-line:

A summary of our activities
A description of our laboratory
Some publications in English
Some useful links in French

To read the other pages, you can try to use an automatic translator.

In the environment, radioactive pollution is found everywhere caused by the atmospheric nuclear tests in the Sixties and the accident of Tchernobyl. In addition, every nuclear facility dumps radioactivity in the environment. It is however impossible for a local residents to know the data of the official monitoring. Therefore, ACRO was created after the Chernobyl accident to give to any citizen the possibility to check its own environment.

To get information

Equipped with a laboratory financed by the support of the members and the sale of analyses, the ACRO makes measurements of radioactivity gamma and beta, as well as measurements of radon. ACRO also sits in many official commissions.

To inform

ACRO publishes a quarterly review in French, l'ACROnique du nucleaire, organizes public conferences and tries to answer many requests for information.

You can join us for € 30 per year : clic here

Download a pdf file with presentation of our activities in French and English (560 ko)
Download a pdf file with public presentation of our activities in English (344 ko)
Download our activity report 2003

Our laboratory is open to anyone interested in measuring radioactivity. Our customers range from individuals to NGO and companies. It has a technical certificate of qualification from the French Ministry of Health for the measurement of the radioactivity of the environment and the food products intended for consumption. It also hold a qualification for radon gas mesurements in public buildings. It proposes various services:

Search of gamma radio-elements

Gamma radiation easily crosses the containers in which are put the samples to analyze and detectors. It is thus easy to detect. Moreover, a given radioelement emits with one or more precise energies, which allows its indentification. After having prepared and conditioned the sample to be analyzed, it spends one day in the analyzer in order to obtain a spectrum, i.e. the quantity of gamma radiation detected at a given energy. That makes it possible to identify the gamma emitters present in the sample and to quantify them.

The ACRO has two chains of GAMMA spectrometry and can detect very low contaminations.

Search of tritium in water and other beta emitters

The search for pure beta emitters is more delicate because the beta radiation is less penetrating and it is difficult to distinguish the radiations emitted by various radioelements. The search of tritium in water, for example, is done by indirect measurement. Emitted the beta radiation can excite a molecule of the scintillating liquid added to the sample and this molecule will emit two photons which will be detected. If one is sure that there are not other radioelements likely to emit similar a beta radiation, it is then possible to quantify tritium present in water. For other pure beta emitters in opaque matrices (stontium 90 in milk for example), it is initially necessary to chemically separate the radioelement before quantifying it. That requires specific chemical protocols sometimes very complex.

ACRO proposes the search of tritium in water. For other beta emitters more difficult to identify, we only make measurement within the framework of specific studies because of the cost.

Radon gaz mesurements

To measure the radon concentration on your home, we send to you one or more detectors which you place in the suspected rooms during two weeks. During its disintegration, radon ionizes the air and will discharge an electret. The difference in voltage between the beginning and the end of measurement enables us to deduce the average concentration. Whereas the traditional systems of measurement with film generally require durations of measurement of several months for low concentrations, with our system, it is possible to have the result in two weeks.

Tariffs

For the search for gamma or beta emitters, it is better to contact us because the tariff depends on the nature of the sample.
 

Radon

20 €

Subscription : 16 euro/year, clic here
 

In 1995, we published a special issue in English on :
 

The state of the Environment in La Hague

still available for 5 euro + S&H

Other articles :

- Leukemia around La Hague nuclear reprocessing plant : doubt remains, november 1999
- Nuclear Wastes Management: The Lessons from the CSM Disposal Site (Centre de Stockage de la Manche), Realized for Greenpeace France, 23rd May 2006