Areva, in partnership with NGOs, including the French organizations Sherpa and Medecins du Monde, has agreed to establish an observation center at its two operating mine sites in Niger, Africa, in order to better monitor the health impacts caused by uranium mining. However, there is widespread skepticism that without any guarantees from Areva that it will compensate for damage done, the effort is merely window-dressing. Read the views of CRIIRAD, the independent radiological research laboratory which has tested the levels of radioactiviry around the Niger mine site.  Agence France Presse also covered the announcement.