2024-01-17 21:00:10
The Sources pavilion of the Institut Curie, in Paris, January 8, 2024. ABDULLAH FIRAS/ABC/ANDIA.FR
The Sources pavilion is at the heart of the reactor – or, rather, of a burning controversy. Can we destroy this historic building in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, built between 1911 and 1914 around the work of Marie Curie (1867-1934), to build in its place a construction which will house 2,500 square meters of ultra-modern laboratories, with the aim of promote medical innovation?
Among those who oppose the destruction of this “symbolic and memorial heritage of Marie Curie” and the leaders of this ambitious scientific project, the controversy is in full swing. It is the Institut Curie, a renowned research center and hospital dedicated to the fight against cancer, which defends this program, intended to “bring to light the next discoveries to fight against the leading cause of death in France: cancer”.
The radioactivity of the building, mentioned several times during the controversy, on one side or the other, may have worried the people who worked there. From 1916, in fact, the building was used to prepare radioactive sources – hence its name – intended for Marie Curie research and the treatment of cancer. Then, until the end of the 1980s, it hosted research on radioactive materials. Research staff continued to work there until the end of the 2000s, before the Institut Curie decided, in 2018, to permanently close access to it, its plan being to decontaminate it, then to decontaminate it. demolish.
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The radioactivity measurements carried out in this pavilion, by organizations outside the establishment, nevertheless appear reassuring. In 2003, for example, the Institute of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) carried out a radiological assessment of the building, which “made it possible to confirm that the premises allowed staff to work in complete safety”indicates Tatiana Malherbe, deputy director of the Institut Curie research center.
Residual contamination points
In 2016, the private company Endel in turn established an assessment, locating some « points de contamination » attached to walls, doors or equipment. Stains that “won’t come off if you rub them”says Marc Ammerich, member of the permanent group of radiation protection experts of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN).
Ultimately, these residual contamination points also appeared to be safe for personnel, because they were at levels below the IRSN tolerance thresholds. “The most irradiating point, located on a wooden frame on the ground floor, corresponds to a flow rate of 6 microsieverts per hour”, adds the expert. Clearly, if we were to stay for an hour in front of this point, we would receive a dose of radioactivity 2,000 times less than an adult undergoing an abdominal scan, who then receives a dose of 12 millisieverts (mSv).
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