• Catalonia.The judge takes up the case of Ascó radioactive particles

After several years of judicial procedure, in which some file has been passed and the case reopened, the Tarragona Court has definitively shelved the investigation into the radioactive incident at the Ascó nuclear power plant in November 2007. In 2018 the Gandesa Court prosecuted three former managers of the plant and the Ascó Vandellós Nuclear Association for crimes related to nuclear contamination, against workers' rights and documentary falsehood, since it considered that they were committed when it leaked into the ventilation part of the contents of a liquid spill to the fuel pool and the subsequent management of this particle leak.

The defendants appealed against this decision of the Gandesa court and the Tarragona Court has given them the reason. Defense attorneys Óscar Morales and Juan Antonio Loste from the Uría Menéndez law firm, claimed in their allegation that from the investigation carried out there were no indications of a crime in the actions of the former officials of the plant and that a particle leak did not cause any danger to the environment. or to people.

The Tarragona Hearing indicates that it does not share "the decision adopted by the court of instance in relation to the facts that justify the accusation of the appellants." He points out that, despite making an extensive review of the evidence practiced during the procedure, the judge "does not provide the reasons derived from the evaluation of such proceedings" to argue his reasons that justify judging the former persons responsible for Ascó for the crimes against the environment, false documentation and against the rights of workers.

"The appealed resolution also does not sufficiently or minimally justify why or on the basis that the evidence obtained and the steps taken conclude that those investigated should be prosecuted for the crimes it establishes, nor does it establish the reasons why it considers that the The facts described are subsumable in such criminal types ", indicates the Audience of Tarragona.

In addition, it indicates that the court's order "does not reveal any evidence, nor investigative measures" that point to the commission of crimes related to nuclear energy, since it was not proven that the emission, discharge or release of radioactive elements put in danger to human health or the environment. The magistrates do not see a "concrete danger" in the leak of radioactive particles in Ascó in 2007

The court defies the court that it does not specify the crimes that the former managers of the plant could have committed based on the numerous expert evidence provided by the parties and details that there is a report from the National Security Council shortly after the accident that indicates that Exposure of people to ionizing particles above the risk levels is "very remote" so "it is not considered to have been a situation of serious danger".

The complaint from the Prosecutor's Office starts from said report since, with the data they had then, they did not rule out "the possibility of internal exposure of an adult to a quantity of radiation higher than the legally established limits", for which the Audiencia of Tarragona considers that there should be a judicial investigation to determine if there was this risk. However, in 2009 the Council itself excluded "any specific danger to the life, integrity or health of both workers and external persons".

The car also refers to a report from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia focused on the irrigation that could exist for people who "categorically rules out that the release of radioactive particles that was produced exceeded the established legal limits." In addition, it also details that nearly 3,000 ordinary and extraordinary body radiological measurements were made to workers from December 2007 to March 2008 and "no presence of radioactive contamination was detected".

The court states that there is extensive expert evidence that rules out personal and environmental risks after the leakage of particles and that the documentation on possible radioactive effects, provided by the accusations representing environmental entities, does not contain "any scientific element" with "generic and imprecise" conclusions. So file the case.

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