A blast in a French nuclear waste treatment factory left one dead Monday and wounded four others. No radioactivity was leaked in the incident, authorities say. France is the planet's most nuclear-dependent nation. Source of article: Explosion in French nuclear facility kills one, injures four
Hurt 4, murdered one
Around 12:37 p.m., the incident happened near the Centraco nuclear site. This is near the Mediterranean Sea in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. One person passed away while three were injured and one was burned seriously from an exploding oven.
Explosion led to fire
A fire started after the blast. The Nuclear Safety Authority reports that the fire was put out in an hour. That meant the situation was under control quite fast. The agency also stressed that no radiation leaks have been detected in the wake of the event.
The bureau said, in a statement:
"According to initial information, the explosion happened in an oven used to melt radioactive metallic waste of little and very little radioactivity. There have been no leaks outside of the site."
It is pretty safe
Parent business of Centraco operation business is EDF energy business that pointed out the spot had no nuclear reactor. The spot is used in small part for medical research and hospital waste. It is mostly used to take radioactive material from EDF’s power plants and treat them. None of it, company spokesperson Carole Trivi said, comes from weapons manufacturing.
All plant personnel did the right safety procedures also, the Nuclear Safety Authority said. No quarantine or evacuation was required.
Nuclear power in France is essential
When compared to the rest of the world, France ranks number one in dependency on nuclear power. About 58 nuclear energy plants in France provide about 80 percent of the power. French facilities also treat nuclear waste from around the world.
The March 11 tsunami in Japan that decimated the Fukushima nuclear plant reignited the controversy over the safety of nuclear energy. A lot of the Germany reactors got shut down. This was after the disaster scared many. France never stopped sustaining the industry. Last June, French president Nicolas Sarkozy spoke about the nation’s investment plan. He said that the country will still put $1.37 billion to the plants.
Getting nuclear waste taken care of
In the U.S., nuclear waste is stored in pools or in dry casks. The processing and re-using France does is something several people like. They think that it is an example to be followed. Lots of waste is created with the nuclear processing plants though, as reported by U.S. scientist Ed Lyman. The risk of dealing with the material was noticed more especially after today’s incident in France.
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