MARSEILLE – An explosion in a furnace at the Marcoule nuclear waste treatment site in southern France yesterday killed one person, but there was no leak of radioactive material outside the site, officials said.
Four people were injured, one with serious burns, in the blast at the Centraco site, owned by French power utility EDF and adjacent to the Marcoule nuclear research centre. The Centraco site does not house any nuclear reactors.
Fatalities in accidents at active nuclear sites in France are rare, although deaths occasionally occur during construction. Yesterday’s blast comes amid heightened safety concerns in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima disaster in March.
The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency said it was seeking information from France about the accident. France’s ASN nuclear safety watchdog said it was launching an inquiry into the cause of the explosion.
– (Reuters)