Explosion at French nuclear facility

At least one person has been killed  in an explosion at a nuclear waste plant in southern France.

At least one person has been killed  in an explosion at a nuclear waste plant in southern France.

Four other people were injured, one seriously, in the blast at a furnace on the Centraco site, which is owned by French power utility EDF.

The site does not house any nuclear reactors.It produces MOX fuel from a mix of uranium and plutonium oxides recycled from nuclear fuel.

Authorities said there was no leak of radioactivity after the incident at the plant, which is adjacent to the Marcoule nuclear research centre near the city of Avignon in the Gard region.

READ MORE

"Right now, there is no release to the outside," a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).

A security cordon is in place around the plant.

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.