Radium in Switzerland: 160 buildings remediated

The Confederation’s 2015-2023 action plan on radium has borne fruit. More than 160 buildings contaminated by this carcinogenic substance have in fact been decontaminated, announced the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) on Wednesday. And to specify: “This work has made it possible to significantly reduce the exposure of current and future occupants to radium and to guarantee the long-term habitability of the buildings.”

It was mainly in former watchmaking workshops in Bern, Neuchâtel and Solothurn, now converted into apartments, that these renovations took place, because radium was widely used in this industry until the 1960s. The implemented program also gave rise to a long-term management strategy for some 250 old landfills likely to contain waste contaminated by this radioactive element.

So many elements which, at the time of assessment, gave satisfaction to the OFSP: “the action plan achieved its objectives in terms of protecting the health of the population and workers, as well as the environment”. All this, for a total of nearly 11 million francs spent. A sum largely covered by the Confederation, the polluters being rarely identifiable. And it may not be over yet. Indeed, the FOPH does not exclude the future discovery of new sites contaminated with radium, “due to the extent of its historical use in Switzerland”.