This Thursday, the relatives of a former nuclear weapons assembler at the Ile Longue base in Brest asked the courts to recognize that the cancer which caused his death was due to the inexcusable fault of his employer, the Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA).
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Died in 2019 from bladder cancer, Joseph Jaouen “has been regularly and habitually exposed to ionizing and neutron radiation”underlined Me Hermine Baron, lawyer for the family, before the Brest court.
Joining the CEA in 1964, Mr. Jaouen notably worked as a nuclear warhead assembler at the pyrotechnic workshop of the Ile Longue submarine base (Finistère), opposite Brest, from 1981 to 2000.
This professional activity “definitely exposed him to ionizing rays between 1983 and 1991. This exposure is sufficiently characterized to establish a link between the pathology and professional activity”estimated the doctors of the regional committee for the recognition of occupational diseases (CRRMP) of Normandy, in an opinion delivered in July 2024.
The CRRMPs of Brittany and Ile-de-France had already concluded along the same lines.
Simply equipped with gloves and overalls, Mr. Jaouen benefited from a “very insufficient protection” during his career, underlined Me Baron, who described the “journey of suffering” that he endured after the discovery of his cancer in 2014 and the relapses and complications that followed.
“There is no link between the illnesses and the work of Mr. Jaouen. If we want to prove the opposite, we must rely on precise elements”replied Me Franck Dremaux, lawyer for the CEA.
According to him, Mr. Jaouen was exposed to radioactivity equivalent to 17.5 millisievert (mSv) during his career. “At the time Mr. Jaouen worked, the threshold was 50 mSv per year. Now, we are at 17.5 mSv for an entire career”argued the lawyer.
“In reality, this does not account for the entire exposure because there is no measurement of neutron radiation”pointed out Me Baron, emphasizing that this type of radiation was “more penetrating”.
According to the Henri Pézerat association, which supports Mr. Jaouen and others “irradiated by nuclear weapons”, neutron radiation is “20 times more effective, which means dangerous” than other types of radiation.
The court reserved its decision until January 30, 2025.
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