Question 8323 — sea and coastline

Summary

As of January 1, 2017, the French coastline had 84 lighthouses equipped with optics resting on rotating bases with mercury tanks. The risks linked to mercury are mainly of two types: - the risk of evaporation into the atmosphere which can occur when temperatures exceed 20°C; - overflows from mercury tanks which can be caused by climatic or natural conditions (strong swells, cyclones, earthquakes, etc.), by the degradation of the structure of buildings (destabilization), or marginally by accidental collisions of ships with lighthouses or their supports. Since 2014, a mercury vapor measurement campaign was carried out by the Brest subdivision (interregional direction of the North Atlantic Sea, West Channel), where the lighthouses most exposed to overflows are located. Likewise, external organizations have carried out measurement campaigns (regional health insurance funds of Brittany and Pays de la Loire) under normal conditions and following depollution of lighthouses exposed to climatic conditions. A monitoring of vapor concentrations was also carried out by an independent organization in Mediterranean lighthouses, where heat conditions favor the vaporization of mercury. All of these elements enabled the taking preventive measures: developing intervention sheets for agents; formulation of recommendations; improvement of intervention protocols adapted to local risks which are shared at the national level with the maritime affairs department and the Center for studies and expertise on risks, environment, mobility and development (Cerema); implementation of occupational health actions for most exposed sites (Brittany) with training, information sheets and medical surveillance. Curative measures have also been implemented and apply on the basis of: - a national procedure relating to the emptying of tanks, which must be updated in the coming months; - local procedures for managing accidental pollution, which are based on the recommendations of specialized organizations (INRS, CRAM); - of a feedback from the carrying out of decontamination work by a specialized company, which made it possible to issue recommendations. An instruction from the Ministry of the Environment, Energy and the Sea dated March 27, 2017 relating to the prevention of risks specific to maritime administration professions completed this system. This instruction covers all the regulations applicable to the use of the mercury as well as the general principles to be applied for the prevention of health risks in work situations for agents required to intervene in lighthouses equipped with mercury tanks. Beyond these regulatory and technical measures, the maritime affairs department plans to begin a reflection on reducing the range of landing and marker lights, at the next meeting of the Commission on Lighthouses and Aids to Navigation (CPAN) which will take place on September 6, 2018. This reflection must integrate several elements: The specific context of each lighthouse in terms of heritage preservation for lighthouses registered or classified as historic monuments, based on the assessments of the regional directorates of cultural affairs (DRAC). The risk/benefit balance of a decontamination operation in the event that a lighthouse does not present any specific identified risk: it will be necessary to carefully examine the benefit of a decontamination operation, critical in terms of exposure of intervention personnel, compared to keeping the tank in place with compliance with the preventive measures in force. A report, commissioned from Cerema, listing the state of the art in this area and alternative technical solutions to the use of mercury which could be implemented. This reduction in range could allow, in certain cases, the use of technologies such as the use of light-emitting diodes (LED), which would no longer require the use of mercury.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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