Paris - One day after radioactive uranium leaked out of a French nuclear power station, local authorities on Wednesday maintained a ban on the consumption of well water, fishing, swimming and irrigation in the immediate area of the accident. 

In addition, experts on radioactivity said that the accident almost certainly contaminated the environment more than officials have stated. 

The Committee for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity (CRIIRAD) said Wednesday that it can be assumed that the radioactivity released into the environment was at least 100 times the allowable ceiling for the entire year. 

Local authorities had not provided any measure of the leak's impact on the environment, except to say that it posed no immediate danger to residents. 

The spill occurred early Tuesday when liquid containing some 360 kilograms of radioactive uranium leaked out of a badly sealed container in the Tricastin nuclear power station near the city of Avignon. 

Part of the spill flowed into the Rhone River and the Gaffiere and Lauzon streams. (dpa)