Nuclear Alert in France

France, September 12, 2011
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An explosion in the storage of radioactive waste from Marcoule, southeast of the country, alerted the authorities about the risk of radioactive leaks.

There is one dead and three wounded. The accident occurred at a store radioactive waste. A security perimeter was already established.

The explosion in the center of the radioactive waste Marcoule nuclear complex, near Nice, occurred around 11:45.

An oven exploded Monday at the Marcoule nuclear site in the Gard region, creating a risk of radioactive leaks, fire officials said, and the prefecture.

The incident took place at the center of Centraco Socodei, a subsidiary of EDF, Codolet a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) said. “Right now, there is no exit to the outside”.

A security perimeter was established by the flight risk. Firefighters were unable at present to conduct an assessment of the accident. The prefecture, said it could not communicate for now.