Breaking: explosion at the Marcoule French Nuclear plant

News only in French for the moment, translation from French newspaper:

An explosion at the nuclear plant located at "Marcoule" in the Gard occurred this afternoon

The accident reportedly occurred following a fire in a storage site for radioactive waste. It would have caused an explosion that killed one person and severly injured three others, according to firefighters. The alarm was quickly given. A security area is in place around the nuclear plant.



More to come.... stay tuned.


source (in French)

intreaging and scary!

ive tried googling, and the only scorce for the story right now is this thread! (google works fast !)

Bumped

Uh-oh

I have to leave for work soon, so anyone who finds any more info please update this thread. I will check back when I get an opportunity.

ATS- fastest news on the internet......

Site L'Express

A furnace exploded with a risk of leak.

BBC starting to report now...

www.bbc.co.uk...

It is a major site involved with the decommissioning of nuclear facilities, and operates a pressurised water reactor used to produce tritium.

www.rtl.be...

heres the google translation of the link above...

An oven exploded on the Marcoule nuclear site in France


An oven exploded on the Marcoule nuclear site in the Gard region, causing a risk of radioactive leakage, said firefighters and prefecture AFP.

According to France 3 - Languedoc-Roussillon, there would be one dead and three wounded. A fire in a radioactive waste site is the cause of the explosion. A security perimeter was drawn up.

The Marcoule site was the birthplace of the industrial and military applications of plutonium in France. The coming end of life of some facilities is reflected in the implementation of decommissioning projects, and launching new projects (Source: Wikipedia).

More in the minutes and hours to come.

ok, i guess oven is reactor?

First english news out,

Something up with AFP as well server down?

'Leak risk after explosion at French nuclear plant'
Breaking news

There is a risk of a radioactive leak after a blast at the southern French nuclear plant of Marcoule, media reports say.

One person was killed and three were injured in the explosion, following a fire in a storage site for radioactive waste, Le Figaro newspaper said.

The plant is in the Gard region.

It is a major site involved with the decommissioning of nuclear facilities, and operates a pressurised water reactor used to produce tritium.

BBC

So Asia and Europe all have radiation leaks?

Really Concerned,

Elf

It's either highly coincidental or NOT that for 20+ years nuclear facilities ran mostly under the radar without much attention or concern (besides Chernobyl) and now - in a span of six months - we have had several huge incidents and major concerns. Funny how we were just now really pushing to get off of the oil habit with alternative energy...I have to wonder though, is it more of a result of our insatiable greed and the inevitable cost-cutting measures and human error that comes with putting profit before people?

Fox News reported it a few minutes ago, sounded like they might have been reading from this thread. Short on info at the moment.

The Dutch news agencies are reporting it aswell now!

I'll keep my eye on more news on this.

All ove the internet, but nothing on French TV yet.

This is seriously Bad

The "Furnace" that has exploded did the following with the worst type of nuclear fuel MOX!

The site is partly used by French nuclear giant Areva to produce MOX fuel which recycles plutonium from nuclear weapons. Part of the process involves firing superheated plutonium and uranium pellets in an oven.

Times NZ

So basically we have an explosion within a furnace that was firing superheated Plutonium and Uranium from nuclear weapons together!

OMG

BUMP

Elf

my thoughts: ohhhh fcuk!!!!

also on RT news, also say risk of radioactive leak. i hope there is none but if they are reporting that there is a risk at this stage then its probabily a reality it is

reply to post by kosmicjack


i would have to go with the cost cutting option there.....we are a greedy race...

there seems to be an awful lot of leaking radioactive material these days...or is just people becoming more aware?so more stories are generated??hmmm

Belgian radio news just reported this as it came in... can't believe how fast ATS is with the breaking news

This is pretty close to home, hope it's nothing major....

Is wondering which way the wind is blowing at the moment -

This is from the company AREVA who run the plant and what was going on here, this could be a massive disaster for europe I hope its under control asap,

parts of southern France the Med evacuated if not?

Industrial operator for the French Atomic Energy Commission
Concrete pouring for packages of solid wastes of CDS - Marcoule facility

AREVA is the CEA's (French Atomic Energy Commission) benchmark industrial partner on the Marcoule facility for the cleanup and disassembly of nuclear installations which have reached the end of their life cycle, as well as for the operation of nuclear and conventional installations.

AREVA, lead contractor for processing of the site

From 1958 to 1997, plant UP1 treated used fuels from the subsidiary UNGG (natural uranium - graphite - gas). It ceased operations on September 30, 1997. The redevelopment phase since launched constitutes a world first for a nuclear site of this size.

Some figures:

30 years of construction work,

1,000 locations to clean,

30,000 ton of waste to treat, 2% of which was highly active

Under the project leadership of CEA, AREVA Marcoule is the industrial operator for the cleanup of the treatment plant and its connected facilities. It performs operations including:

Cleaning and disassembly of the treatment plant and associated facilities, such as preparation workshops:
rinsing circuits using classic or specific chemical reagents,
Decontamination, shearing, and disassembly of equipment (pumps, filters, tanks, glove boxes...)
Recovery, sorting, and reconditioning of waste generated since the inception of the site as well as those produced by the cleanup operations, in accordance with applicable standards: oil drums, structural waste, fuel containers... These were then temporarily stored on-site or removed to a permanent storage facility.

Nuclear installation operator

AREVA also operates in Marcoule various nuclear industry installations, on behalf of the CEA for the:

Production of tritium.
Treatment of liquid waste and waste products.
Inspections and laboratory expertise in nuclear materials.
Dosimetry of personnel.
Decontamination of machines and tools.
Maintenance of transport containers for nuclear materials.

Areva

I am sure they will be as open and honest as Tepco in telling us the truth so dont worry nothing to see just move on and breath in the invisible killer!

Edit to add already french stocks were under pressure and british ones re banking reforms and hideen losses on early trade.

On news of this explosion the french DAC is down 5%, this is really really bad news not fear mongering, Europe the world markets cant have a chernobyl/fukishima type event in central europe we would be in depression fully in about 2 weeks.

I feel CAC trading will be suspended, maybe even ftse and dow if it opens really down on this....

Worried

Elf


Elf