Nuclear spill wine to change name
Producers near the town of Tricastin to make new label after second radiation leak at the power plant.
Wine producers are to change their Coteaux du Tricastin label after a second radiation leak at the power plant which shares the name.
President of the Coteaux du Tricastin Henri Bour said: “It is only a question of image.
“The idea is making progress and I hope it will be achieved before the 2009 harvest.”
Mr Bour said a name change was first mooted around 10 years ago, but the French nuclear group Areva showed little interest in renaming its facility, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Avignon.
Tricastin, a power plant and radioactive waste processing facility, is in the town of Bollene in the Vaucluse.
A meeting of the AOC administrative council, which ensures the methods to make products such as wine and cheese are upheld, is to discuss a name change on August 5 "as a precaution for the image," said Bour.
Grignan, the name of a local village is one of the possibilities.
Energy firm EDF announced yesterday that 100 staff at the plant had been exposed to a low dose of radiation after particles escaped from a leaking pipe.
The incident comes two weeks after contaminated water was spilt into the local water supply leading to a ban on drinking, water sports which was only lifted this week.
Photo: Afp Fred Dufour
