Updated 2:39 p.m. ET, Monday Sept. 12
An explosion at a nuclear waste disposal site near French nuclear plant Marcoule, 18 miles northwest of Avignon, has killed at least one worker and injured four others, including one person seriously, World Nuclear News reports, citing French nuclear safety agency CSN.
The explosion happened at 11:45 a.m. local time (5:30 a.m. ET) and was apparently caused by a fire near a furnace, the BBC reports.
It did not take place at the nuclear plant Marcoule but at a separate, closely adjacent site called Centraco, where low-level radioactive waste products are prepared for disposal, World Nuclear News notes.
The actual furnace where the explosion took place “was used to to melt scrap metal structural components, pumps, valves and tools made of stainless steel or carbon steel that are lightly contaminated with short-lived and very-low-level radioactivity,” World Nuclear News reports.
A spokesperson from the site’s owner, French company EDF, told the BBC that a subsequent “fire caused by the explosion was under control,” and said that it was “an industrial accident, not a nuclear accident.”
Though the 55-year-old Marcoule plant does not contain any nuclear reactors and produces no electricity, it is an important nuclear waste treatment, disposal and storage facility and reportedly contains weapons grade plutonium, according to CNN.
There are mixed reports concerning the threat of any radioactive leaks. The BBC reports “no risk” of a radioactive leak, but various other publications, including RT and the AFP report that while there is no leak at present, there is the possibility of radioactive leaks developing.
Local news outlets around Avignon have not raised the possibility of an evacuation at the time of this posting.
France is the most nuclear-dependent country on the planet, with 58 reactors around the country producing 78 percent of its total electricity needs, the Financial Times reported in March.
We’ve reached out to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the intergovernmental global nuclear safety organization, for further details, and will update when we receive a response.
Late update: According to a statement sent to us by the IAEA,
The explosion occurred in a furnace used for the treatment of low level radioactive waste. According to [French nuclear agency] ASN, the main radionuclide present in the waste materials in the oven is cobalt-60.
ASN has confirmed that there has not been any release of radioactivity from the site and that there is no prospect of any release. According to ASN, the incident has ended. The cause of the explosion is currently unknown and is under investigation.
“This accident has no stake or radiological protective action of the people,” added a statement posted on ASN’s website (French).
