The association EFN visited the controversial Espiguette beach on 15th July 2003 to make a scientific study of the radioactivity, in order to better understand the situation, to measure the radioactivity on the spot and thus to be better able to inform the public in an objective manner on this current controversial subject.

The French CRII-RAD (Commission de Recherche et d'Information Indépendante sur la Radioactivité) made a big splash in March and April 2000 after detecting an abnormally high level of radiation on the Camargue beach to the east of the Espiguette lighthouse ⁽¹⁾. A subsequent study made by the BRGM ⁽²⁾ (Bureau de Recherche géologique et minière) showed clearly that the origin of this radioactivity was entirely natural and due to the presence in the beach sands of monazite, a mineral naturally rich in thorium and uranium, most likely carried down in alluvial form by the waters of the Rhone river. That seemed to put an end to the controversy, but it popped up again at the beginning of the summer of 2003 following a television broadcast (France 2, Envoyé Spécial, 19 June 2003) which re-opened the debate ^{(3) (4)}. Much to the distress of local authorities and to the detriment of local tourist industry, some antinuclear activists went so far as to propose that public access to this so-called "contaminated" beach be restricted or even forbidden (note: use of this term "contaminated" is in fact inappropriate in reference to such small doses of natural radioactivity).

This three-mile long sun-bathed beach lies between the sea and magnificent sand dunes. It is often said to be one of the most beautiful beaches of the Mediterranean. ⁽⁵⁾ For its beauty and quiet it has become a favorite of tourists, and in recent years it has been much frequented by amateurs of kite-skate and kite-surf ⁽⁶⁾.

Sand dunes behind the Espiguette beach (photo EFN)

For a panoramic view of the beach : click here 

After the appearance of many, often contradictory, radio and television broadcasts on the subject as well as newspaper and magazine articles, it seemed to us that it would be useful to make some measurements of our own. Thus a small team of EFN researchers equipped with a Gammascout Geiger counter visited the site to make a series of measurements of the radioactivity on the beach. Our purpose was to have our own clear idea of the situation and to know first-hand what we were talking about.    

Gammascout Geiger counter (in this photo : the radioactivity reads 1,10 microSievert/hour on the Espiguette beach)

We first made a bibliographic study (see the references below) and gathered documents to allow us to determine the situation in detail and quantitatively. We relied extensively on the BRGM study ⁽²⁾ as well as other material.

Basing ourselves on this information we visited the beach on 15th July 2003; we examined the beach and the dunes the whole day long;

- we made measurements the entire length of the beach going well beyond the radioactive zone; we covered at least 10 kilometers including the center of the town of Grau du Roi ;

- we identified the most radioactive places and made profiles of the radioactivity along and across the beach and dunes;

- we made three particularly detailed transverse profiles : 1/ at the town of Grau du Roi which is at the most frequented part of the beach; 2/ at the level of the Espiguette lighthouse; and 3/ at that part of the beach where the radioactivity is the highest.

- we took samples for later analysis.

- finally we compared these data with similar data for other regions, more or less radioactive, but especially with our own data gathered in 1999 at the beach of Guarapari (Brazil) well before the beginning of the current controversy.

At the following address you will find photographs taken during our visit. They give a visual impression of the site and of the measurements we made there.  

http://www.ecolo.org/photos/visite/espig_03-web/ ⁽⁷⁾

About forty photos are displayed on that page; each one can be enlarged to fill your screen simply by clicking on it.

EFN measuring radioactivity on the Espiguette beach

Map of the region studied

English legends inserted in the illustrations:
 
Measurements on the beach at Grau du Roi (center of town)
Espiguette lighthouse;  
Area of greatest radioactivity east of the lighthouse;  
Delta of the Rhone;  
Area of EFN's radioactivity measurements on the beach; 
Alluvium containing naturally radioactive thorium and uranium is carried down by the waters of the Rhone and deposited on the beach.

In view of our measurements, we offer the following conclusions:

- overall, our measurements confirm those of CRII-RAD and BRGM.  The radioactivity on the beach is indeed greater than elsewhere, and the orders of magnitude reported in their communications - up to 50 or 100 times greater than the background - seem to be correct. (Our maximum readings were a bit less than those reported by CRII-RAD, but this might be due to differences in the calibration of our instruments and to the weather.) We differ with that association when it comes to the interpretation of our results and their consequences (or lack of consequences) for public health (see below). Walking along the beach parallel to the water, we found that the most radioactive area is indeed east of the Espiguette lighthouse for about 2 kilometers. Starting at the lighthouse, the radioactivity first increases slowly and then decreases equally slowly. The most radioactive area is a small zone right in the middle, about 1 kilometer east of the lighthouse and just before reaching the nude beach.

- turning to the transverse profiles, that is moving from the water's edge toward the interior and perpendicular to the beach, there is practically no radiation above normal background at the water's edge, but it increases slowly over a few tens of meters as one walks toward the dunes. The most radioactive area is at the very back of the beach, near the foot of the first dune. As one climbs the dune and continues inland, the radioactivity diminishes. We confirm the observation that the most radioactive area is the intertidal zone, that part of the beach between the water's edge and the summit of the first dune.

- the highest level of radioactivity we could find was about 1.2 microSv/hour, about 20 times the usual background of about 0.05 microSv/hour. This is about the same, maybe a bit less, than reported by CRII-RAD which should be taken with some reservation because background radiation normally varies considerably from place to place. The "hottest" point we ever encountered on the Espiguette beach, walking up and down the beach all day long, was 1.2 microSv/hour; we wish to stress the point that this is small compared to what we encountered on the beach at Guarapari in Brazil, where the highest level was 40 microSv/hour, that is, some 30 times greater than the maximum found on the beach at Espiguette. The beach at Guarapari is a much frequented public beach for a town of some eighty thousand healthy inhabitants.

- in terms of public health, the first deleterious effects of radiation begin to appear at about 100 milliSv received in one single dose or in a short period of time. The Academy of Science of France has recently confirmed this fact ⁽⁸⁾. One would have to spend 10 years at the most radioactive point on the Espiguette beach in order to accumulate such a dose. People who visit that beach never stay more than a few hundred hours and indeed the beach is practically deserted except for summer vacations. Lets suppose that a vacationer spends three hours a day the beach for two months and puts his towel down at the most radioactive point every day; he would then get an accumulated dose of 0.2 milliSv, about a hundred times below the threshold of dangerous exposure.

- in comparing Espiguette and Guarapari we remark first off that the Espiguette beach is practically empty except in the summer, while the beach at Guarapari is used all day long and all year round, not only by the 80 000 inhabitants of the city but also by thousands of tourists. The city is built close to the radioactive beach with buildings facing the sea, as at Nice. The inhabitants are no less healthy than elsewhere, and in fact the city has a reputation of being healthy. In comparing the beaches we find that many fewer people are exposed at Espiguette, perhaps ten times fewer, their individual annual exposure is perhaps ten times less, for they go only in the summer, the chance that one put one's beach towel down on the hottest spot is small, and the exposure per unit time is perhaps 30 times smaller. No deleterious effect on health has ever been detected even at Guarapari; quite the contrary, the city is noted for its beneficial effects, precisely due to the radioactivity of the black beach sands rich in monazite.

In the year 2000, EFN measured the radioactivity on the beach at Guarapari in Brazil. The beach sands there are particularly radioactive, the maximum value measured was 30 times greater than the maximum at Espiguette. 

Another point of comparison: during a flight at high altitude from Paris to Tokyo or from Paris to San Francisco, one is exposed to ionizing radiation which may be as high as 5 microSv/hour, four times greater than at the "hottest" spot on the Espiguette beach. During a 12-hour flight one might be exposed to 60 microSv, which corresponds to about two weeks of sunbathing at Espiguette for three hours a day, always at the "hottest" spot on the beach. It is worth noting that studies of airline flight personnel, who are continually exposed to high levels of ionizing radiation, have shown no excess of cancers, leukæmia or other diseases which might be linked to radiation. In fact, the occurrence of cancers is smaller than in the population at large.

Ionizing radiation measured in an airliner at high altitude: in this case 3,92 microSievert/hour at 11 600 meters = 38 500 feet.

In  view of the doses one might receive, it seems to us that we can declare with confidence that, as far as ionizing radiation is concerned, there is NO DANGER whatsover to the health of anyone who visits the beach at Espiguette. Overexposure to the sun and drowning risks are the real hazards there. 

- we made similar measurements on the neighboring beach opposite the center of the town of Grau du Roi where many more people bathe. There too we found a very slightly elevated level of radioactivity in the intertidal zone, some tens of meters wide, just like at Espiguette. It seems to display the same profile and it is undoubtedly of the same origin; it is due to monazite, bearing thorium and uranium, which is part of the natural alluvium washed down by the Rhone and washed up by ocean currents on the beaches near the mouth of the river, just as at Guarapari. The radiation is 10 times weaker at the town of Grau du Roi than at the beach at Espiguette, and 300 times weaker at Grau du Roi than at the beach of Guarapari in Brazil.

Measuring ionizing radiation at the beach at Grau du Roi (near the center of town)

We have confirmed then that ionizing radiation at the Espiguette beach far exceeds the average taken over all of France - up to 50 times more at certain well defined points - and it is of course greater than on the granitic beaches of Brittany. It is nevertheless far smaller (perhaps by a factor of 100) than the levels which might constitute a health hazard, even for the rare sunbather who consistently visits that small area of the beach where the radioactivity is greatest.

No particular precautions need to be taken; quite the contrary, it might be advisable to visit regularly so as to take advantage of the beneficial effects of small doses of radiation which stimulate the immune system (the effect is known as hormesis). And it would be even better to vacation at Guarapari in Brazil where the effect is about 30 times greater.

The radioactive baths at the beach at Guarapari are so well known in Brazil for their curative effects that there is even a Thorium Hotel, and the city is dubbed "Cidade da Saude" (health city). The black beach sands are especially rich in thorium and people who go there for the cure are advised to cover their bodies with the black sand for up to 10 minutes for the first few days and then for up to 20 minutes at a time.

Photos of the beach at Espiguette and of measurements being made by EFN:
http://www.ecolo.org/photos/visite/espig_03-web/

Photos of the beach at Guarapari and of measurements being made by EFN:
http://www.ecolo.org/photos/visite/guarapari_00/

Position of BRGM regarding the radioactivity of the beach at Espiguette:
http://www.brgm.fr/BRGMFrance/espiguet.htm

We intend to publish at some later date more exact results of this research including both longitudinal and transverse profiles, as well as the results of the analysis of the samples of beach sand.   However the analysis will be costly, and we seek contacts who might be willing to execute those studies for us or to finance them - we require mineralogical, radiological and chemical analyses of the samples we gathered at Guarapari as well as at Espiguette.

Please contact us (spam prevention: replace [at] by @ in the email address) if you think you might be able to help us or if you have some ideas or suggestions about this subject.

To recapitulate, we confirm the radiation levels reported by CRII-RAD as well as the conclusions of the studies of BRGM, of IPSN and OPRI now joined in IRSN ⁽¹⁰⁾.  However their frightening interpretations and CRII-RAD's fear that the beach might be dangerous has, in our opinion, no scientific foundation.

To be more explicit, the exploitation of this affair by the media - radio, television and press - is nothing but a hoax, making a lot of noise for no reason whatsoever. CRII-RAD has actually discovered nothing new, because the high level of natural radioactivity on the Espiguette beach has been known for a long time. It was indeed the subject of a communication by the geologist André Rivière presented before the Academie des Sciences in ... 1955 ⁽¹¹⁾. The following year, André Rivière published the results of his study in the Bulletin de la Société Française de Géologie under the title "The accumulation of sediment in the Rhone, its transport to the Mediterranean beaches and the concentration of naturally radioactive material on the beach at Espiguette" ⁽¹²⁾.

So the level of radioactivity on the Espiguette beach was already known to be higher than elsewhere and its origin already identified, well before the first nuclear installation began to operate in the Rhone valley - that was the plant at Marcoule which opened in 1958. The whole affair is warmed over porridge which the CRII-RAD and the media tried to present as a new discovery.

So there's nothing new, and no danger nor any hazardous condition on the beach at Espiguette, where vacationers can continue to sunbathe in all serenity. The radiation there is natural and totally inoffensive, and may even be beneficial.

And it's not even a unique phenomenon. Natural monazites, rich in uranium and  thorium, are found in the beach sands near the estuaries of several rivers - at Guarapari in Brazil and in the province of Kerala in India - and they have been there for such a long time that no one can say when they appeared. The nuclear industry has nothing to do with it, as some people will be sorry to learn, but it is completely natural that the distribution of radioactivity from place to place is variable, sometimes highly variable. It's a natural phenomenon, and it's not dangerous at the levels encountered. 

Have a good day! 

Bruno Comby
President of EFN

______________________________

References :

(1) - CRII-RAD, "Anomalie radiologique sur certaines plages de la petite Camargue", 13 avril 2000, http://www.criirad.com/criirad/actualites/Communiques/Camargues13avril.html

(2) - BRGM "Expertise géologique des anomalies radioactives des plages de Camargue : plage de l'Espiguette, le point de vue sur la radioactivité", document mis a jour le 28 11 02
http://www.brgm.fr/BRGMFrance/espiguet.htm

(3) - Marc Filterman, "Plages radioactives en Camargue", juillet/aout 2003, http://membres.lycos.fr/filterman/radioactif-plage-camargue.htm

(4) - La Provence, "La radioactivité des plages de Camargue ressurgit", 20 juin 2003, http://www.sortirdunucleaire.org/juin2003/laprovence200603.htm

(5) - Avignon et Provence, "La plage de l'Espiguette", site web : http://www.avignon-et-provence.com/camargue/fr/diaporama/03-camargue.htm

(6) - Web site KiteSkate.com, "L'Espiguette"
http://kiteskate.free.fr/kiteskate/francais/spot/espiguette/espiguette.php

(7) - AEPN - Campagne de mesure de la radioactivité à Guarapari au Brésil, juin 1999, http://www.ecolo.org/photos/visite/espig_03-web/ ,

(8) - Avis de l'Académie de Médecine du 4 décembre 2001, http://www.ecolo.org/documents/documents_in_french/Irrad-Dechets-AvisAcadMed.htm

(9) - ASN (Autorité de sûreté nucléaire), "Note d'information relative à la radioactivité naturelle de certaines plages de Camargue", 20 juin 2003, http://www.asn.gouv.fr/data/information/25_2003_camar.asp

(10) - IRSN - "Dépôts sédimentaires radioactifs sur le littoral de Camargue", Juin 2003 http://www.irsn.fr/vf/05_inf/05_inf_1dossiers/05_inf_30_camargue/05_inf_30_1camargue.shtm

(11) - André Rivière, Note présentée à l'Académie des Sciences en 1955, cité par l'IRSN, "Note d'information sur la radioactivité naturelle de certaines plages de Camargue", juin 2003, http://www.irsn.fr/vf/05_inf/05_inf_1dossiers/05_inf_30_camargue/ pdf/NI_sables_camargue_juin03.pdf

(12) - André Rivière, Bulletin de la Société Française de Géologie, 1956, cité par Jean Brissonnet d'AFIS-Sciences dans "Radiophobie, fantasmes et réalités", http://www.pseudo-sciences.org/radiophobie.htm