Breaking News - Explosion At French Nuclear Site Of Marcoule

[Windsor]

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14883521

12 September 2011 Last updated at 13:08 GMT

One person has been killed and four injured, one seriously, by an explosion at the southern French nuclear site of Marcoule.
There were no radioactive leaks after the blast, caused by a fire near a furnace in the Centraco radioactive waste storage site, officials said.
It produces MOX fuel, which recycles plutonium from nuclear weapons, but does not include reactors.
It is a major site involved with the decommissioning of nuclear facilities.


The Centraco treatment centre belongs to a subsidiary of national electricity provider EDF.
The explosion hit the area at 1145 local time (0945 GMT).
"For the time being nothing has made it outside," said a spokesman for France's Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was in touch with the French authorities to learn more about the nature of the explosion.
Marcoule was opened in 1955 and is one of France's oldest nuclear sites. It is located in the Gard department in Languedoc-Roussillon region, near France's Mediterranean coast.
Nuclear energy provides more than 70% of France's energy needs.


All the country's 58 nuclear reactors have been put through stress tests in recent months, following the disaster at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant which was hit by an earthquake and tsunami.
EDF's share prices fell by more than 6% as news of the blast emerged.

 

[Windsor]

Also from Reuters:

[h=1]Explosion at French nuclear site kills one, no leak[/h]

MARSEILLE, France | Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:03am EDT

(Reuters) - A furnace exploded at the Marcoule nuclear waste treatment site in southern France on Monday, killing one person, but there was no leak of radioactive material outside the furnace, France's ASN nuclear safety watchdog said.
Four other people were injured, one seriously, in the blast at the Centraco site, owned by French power utility EDF and adjacent to the Marcoule nuclear research center. The site does not house any nuclear reactors.
The furnace that exploded is used to melt waste with levels of radioactivity ranging from low to very high, ASN said.
It did not immediately give a reason for the blast but said it was completely contained within the furnace.
Police also said there was no contamination outside the site, which is about 30 km (18 miles) from the city of Avignon and about 80 km (50 miles) from the Mediterranean coast.
France -- the world's most nuclear-reliant country -- is carrying out stress tests on its 58 nuclear reactors in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
(Reporting by Jean-Francois Rosnoblet; Additional reporting by Marion Douet and Muriel Boselli in Paris; Writing by Catherine Bremer; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/12/us-france-nuclear-idUSTRE78B2EH20110912

 

[GOD IS MY DOG]

and there's some nuclear leaks in US nuclear plants too........................



looks like the owners of oil companies are up to no good...................