Notre-Dame de Paris
Press release no. 11
– Almost 10 months after the fire at Notre-Dame, the clean-up of the archaeological crypt begins next week. According to the call for tenders issued by Paris Musées on 16 August 2019, the aim is to reduce lead pollution ‘to levels close to zero’. The highest levels are between 40,000 and 50,000 µg/m2. The work will be complicated by the recent proliferation of mould due to the lack of ventilation and dampness in the premises. The crypt is located under the forecourt of Notre-Dame. It has a floor area of 2,200 m2.
– Several attempts to decontaminate the forecourt, presented as innovative and scouring, have failed to bring lead levels below 1000 µg/m2, the threshold tolerated after emergency work. The forecourt is an inexhaustible reservoir of lead particles, fed from the evening of 15 April by the carcass and organs of the cathedral, then by the swirling winds and by the construction site, which is also a waste area. What is most surprising and worrying from a legal and health point of view is the waltz orchestrated by the City of Paris and the Ministry of Culture. From May to August 2019, the western part of the forecourt between the rue de la Cité and the entrance to the crypt remained open to the public. From the end of August, this part of the forecourt will be closed. Thousands of people and children used it for several months. Similar ataxias affected access to Hôtel Dieu via the forecourt. Where the public and users could eventually pass through with all the recommendations and equipment they need to protect themselves from lead dust, a new exhibition of official photos seeks to slow them down and hold them back. The latest avatar in the resurrection of the forecourt would be the application of a resin whose mission would be to mask the pollution and confine it until the indefinite end of the reconstruction work. All the hard and loose ground would then be excavated, treated as waste and replaced. The resistance to trampling, punching and erosion of this miracle resin, blessed by the clergy and the Public Establishment in charge of the conservation and restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, is obviously being called into question.
– The dismantling of the metal scaffolding that encircled the spire before it collapsed and the dispersal of 250 tonnes of white-hot lead has not yet begun. It is constantly being delayed. The safety protocol to be imposed on the workers and the local residents opposite -rue du Cloître-Notre-Dame – is the subject of bitter discussions between the regional prefect, the labour inspectorate and the Établissement Public. Thanks to the loophole provided by the law on the restoration and conservation of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris and its article 9, which allows exceptions to be made to the best available techniques and the Environmental Code, it is planned to deliver the thousands of polluted railings and decking from the scaffolding to scrap merchants in the Paris region. The conditions for decontaminating and disposing of this waste, like all the other waste since the start of the excavation work, remain secret and confined to the battle plans of General Georgelin, the site’s Chief of Staff. The waste was scattered in second-class landfill sites in the Paris region.
– The ANSES* opinion on lead contamination in public spaces published today confirms and consolidates the warnings issued by Robin des Bois. The ANSES stresses the vulnerability of children and considers that lead can be found in dust from roads, public gardens and playgrounds ‘as a result of erosion or washing away of architectural elements and contaminate outdoor spaces in this way’. ‘Lastly, contamination may be linked to accidental pollution, as was the case with the Notre-Dame de Paris fire in April 2019.’
The ANSES opinion also stresses the need to lower vigilance thresholds and to step up health monitoring of corporations responsible for maintaining public spaces, such as street cleaners and gardeners. ANSES is extending this recommendation to workers working on buildings in the area potentially contaminated by the Notre-Dame fire, and to those who come into direct contact with lead dust inside work sites on historic monuments and buildings.
* Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail.
Link to Robin des Bois publications on the Notre-Dame de Paris fire.
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