nuclear explosion in france!, page-9

From german newsmagazine "Der Spiegel":

Paris - In the southern French Marcoule nuclear site on Monday there was an explosion. There had been a dead body, said the French Nuclear (ASN) with. Four other people were injured. Radiation is, according to ASN and the local police were not leaked.

Initially had reported news agencies and foreign media, citing local authorities and the fire department first, there was a risk that radioactive material escaping from the plant near Avignon in the Rhone Valley.

The German news agency quoted a spokeswoman for the nuclear plant, however, by saying it is not known whether radioactivity was released into the environment. "It's an incinerator for low-level radioactive waste," she said. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known.

On the grounds of the Marcoule plant, which is located 30 kilometers from Avignon, there are three reactors built in the fifties, but they are all long since closed down. The Marcoule G3 reactors was taken as the last in 1984 by the network. In addition, there was another reactor, a so-called fast breeder reactor, which went into operation in 1973 and was recently shut down as well.

Today on the site, according to French media reports only used fuel rods processed and stored radioactive waste. The plant is also an important production facility for the uranium-plutonium mixture Mox, which is produced from spent uranium fuel rods.