In Eker (also written as I-n-Eker or In Ekker) is a village in the commune of

In Amguel In Amguel (Arabic: عين امقل, lit. ''Amguel spring'') is a town and commune in Tamanrasset District, Tamanrasset Province, Algeria. According to the 2008 census it has a population of 4,208, up from 3,030 in 1998, with an annual growth r ...

, in Tamanrasset District,

Tamanrasset Province Tamanrasset or Tamanghasset ( ''Wilāya Tamanrāssat'', ) is a province (''wilaya'') in southern Algeria. It is named after its province seat, Tamanrasset. The province is the home of two national parks: Ahaggar National Park and Tassili n'Ajj ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. It lies on the N1 national highway north of In Amguel and north of Tamanrasset city.

Climate

In Eker has a hot

desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''BWh''), with hot summers and mild winters, and very little

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

throughout the year.

Testing Site

In the 1960s In Eker was the scene of several underground nuclear tests conducted by the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

military. They included the now infamous

Béryl incident The "Béryl incident" was a French nuclear test, conducted on 1 May 1962, during which nine soldiers of the 621st Groupe d'Armes Spéciales unit were heavily contaminated by radioactivity. The test took place at In Eker, Algeria, then a French d ...

which released a cloud of

radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is conside ...

dust outside the tunnel entrance, contaminating officials viewing the test. In 1999 the

International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology, nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was ...

conducted tests at the site and found that some

radioactive contamination Radioactive contamination, also called radiological pollution, is the deposition of, or presence of Radioactive decay, radioactive substances on surfaces or within solids, liquids, or gases (including the human body), where their presence is uni ...

remained on the surface. This was in the form of several

isotopes Isotopes are distinct nuclear species (or ''nuclides'') of the same chemical element. They have the same atomic number (number of protons in their nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemical element), but ...

with

Caesium-137 Caesium-137 (), cesium-137 (US), or radiocaesium, is a radioactive isotope of caesium that is formed as one of the more common fission products by the nuclear fission of uranium-235 and other fissionable isotopes in nuclear reactors and nucle ...

being the most prominent. Their report concluded that

Nomad Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

pastoralism Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The anim ...

through the adjacent areas would result in exposures of around 50 μSV/year, however

Persons scavenging metals in the immediate vicinity of the E2 esttunnel might receive doses up to 0.5mSv in 8 hours. Currently, external exposure rates are less than one-tenth those existing in 1966.

The study further found alpha particle emission from the solidified lava is roughly the same as the surrounding natural rock, which has some naturally occurring

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

. To date, some limited follow up by French personnel has taken place, but no long-term study of the native population, nor the

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing material, consisting of permeability (Earth sciences), permeable or fractured rock, or of unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The s ...

s in the area has been done.

References

Neighbouring towns and cities

{{Tamanrasset Province Populated places in Tamanrasset Province