Explosion at nuclear plant in France kills 1

2011-09-13 03:30:24 GMT+7 (ICT)

BAGNOIS-SUR-CEZE, FRANCE (BNO NEWS) -- One person was killed and several others were injured after an explosion at a nuclear installation in southeastern France, officials said. There were no radiation leaks.

The explosion happened at around 12.30 p.m. local time at the Marcoule nuclear plant, which is located in the Chusclan and Codolet communes, near Bagnols-sur-Cèze in the Gard department of France's Côtes-du-Rhône region.

"An oven dedicated to melt low and very low radioactive metallic waste exploded inside the building," a spokesperson for the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) said. "The radioactivity was contained inside the building."

A fire which broke out in the oven was quickly extinguished at around 1 p.m. local time, but both ASN and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) activated their emergency centers as a precaution while details were still being gathered.

ASN said one worker at the installation had been killed as a result of the explosion, while four others sustained injuries. "Injured people do not suffer from any radiological contamination and all measures conducted by the licensee outside of the building have shown no trace of radioactive contamination," the Authority said.

The cause of the explosion is being investigated.

Marcoule is owned by SOCODEI and is dedicated to the treatment and conditioning of low level radioactive waste, either by melting of metallic waste or by incineration of incinerable waste.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-09-13

It looks like this accident never had the potential to rival the Japanese meltdowns due to the nature of the plant. If it had been that would probably have finished the nuclear power industry for good.

If it had happened in Russia, China, PRK, Iran, Pakistan, or any one of a slew of other nuclear capable countries, it probably would have been covered up from news coverage.

The ongoing Fukushima disaster continues...

The Thaivisa thread is now at 132 pages.