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Blast Shakes French Nuclear Facility
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By GERALDINE AMIEL and MAX COLCHESTER
PARIS—A furnace at a nuclear-waste incinerator in southern France exploded Monday, killing one person and injuring four others.
The oven, used to melt low-level radioactive waste, blew up and caught fire, but no radioactive or chemical leaks occurred, said power company Electricite de France SA, whose subsidiary operates the furnace.
Nuclear experts in France were quick to play down the impact of the fire at the facility, whose safety record had previously been questioned by the country's nuclear safety regulator.
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0912francenuke
0912francenuke
Reuters
Rescue services evacuate a person injured after an explosion at the French nuclear waste treatment site of Marcoule in southern France.
"There is no chemical or nuclear risk as we speak," said a spokeswoman for French Industry Minister Eric Besson. "It's an industrial accident, not a nuclear accident."
The incinerator burns low-level radioactive waste, such as rubber gloves and metal taps, used in nuclear facilities, said Olivier Isnard, an emergency-management expert at the French Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety. The fire was quickly extinguished and the building housing the incinerator did not seem to be badly damaged, he said. As a result, the radioactivity level at the site is likely to be "very, very low," said Mr. Isnard.
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Socodei, the company that runs the incinerator, is a fully owned subsidiary of EDF. Socodei did not respond to calls seeking comment.
Coming six months after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, the explosion caused EDF's share price to plummet 7.5% on fears of another radioactive spill, before recovering to end down 2.9%. The fire also revived debate surrounding the additional safety initiatives that the nuclear industry needs to put in place in the coming months.
This year France's nuclear-safety regulator issued a warning about security measures at the waste-treatment site after the regulator found the incinerator's fire detectors failed to function correctly.
Antinuclear campaigner Greenpeace questioned why the incinerator was not included in the safety stress tests that are currently being carried out at nuclear power plants across the country. "It shows once again that France has not learnt any lessons from Fukushima," said a spokesman at Greenpeace.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said its Incident and Emergency Center remains in contact with French authorities.The 700-strong population of Codolet, the village where the waste treatment plant is located, was not evacuated, EDF and local officials said. One of the four wounded was seriously injured, the nuclear-safety agency said.
—David Gauthier-Villars and David Crawford contributed to this article.
Write to Geraldine Amiel at [email protected], Max Colchester at
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904353504576566323236433558.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Blast Shakes French Nuclear Facility
Article
Comments (21)
more in Business »
Save ↓ More
smaller
Larger
By GERALDINE AMIEL and MAX COLCHESTER
PARIS—A furnace at a nuclear-waste incinerator in southern France exploded Monday, killing one person and injuring four others.
The oven, used to melt low-level radioactive waste, blew up and caught fire, but no radioactive or chemical leaks occurred, said power company Electricite de France SA, whose subsidiary operates the furnace.
Nuclear experts in France were quick to play down the impact of the fire at the facility, whose safety record had previously been questioned by the country's nuclear safety regulator.
Enlarge Image
0912francenuke
0912francenuke
Reuters
Rescue services evacuate a person injured after an explosion at the French nuclear waste treatment site of Marcoule in southern France.
"There is no chemical or nuclear risk as we speak," said a spokeswoman for French Industry Minister Eric Besson. "It's an industrial accident, not a nuclear accident."
The incinerator burns low-level radioactive waste, such as rubber gloves and metal taps, used in nuclear facilities, said Olivier Isnard, an emergency-management expert at the French Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety. The fire was quickly extinguished and the building housing the incinerator did not seem to be badly damaged, he said. As a result, the radioactivity level at the site is likely to be "very, very low," said Mr. Isnard.
Map
Socodei, the company that runs the incinerator, is a fully owned subsidiary of EDF. Socodei did not respond to calls seeking comment.
Coming six months after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, the explosion caused EDF's share price to plummet 7.5% on fears of another radioactive spill, before recovering to end down 2.9%. The fire also revived debate surrounding the additional safety initiatives that the nuclear industry needs to put in place in the coming months.
This year France's nuclear-safety regulator issued a warning about security measures at the waste-treatment site after the regulator found the incinerator's fire detectors failed to function correctly.
Antinuclear campaigner Greenpeace questioned why the incinerator was not included in the safety stress tests that are currently being carried out at nuclear power plants across the country. "It shows once again that France has not learnt any lessons from Fukushima," said a spokesman at Greenpeace.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said its Incident and Emergency Center remains in contact with French authorities.The 700-strong population of Codolet, the village where the waste treatment plant is located, was not evacuated, EDF and local officials said. One of the four wounded was seriously injured, the nuclear-safety agency said.
—David Gauthier-Villars and David Crawford contributed to this article.
Write to Geraldine Amiel at [email protected], Max Colchester at
