One person was killed and three injured in an explosion Monday at a nuclear plant in Marcoule, southern France, a spokeswoman for EDF electricity company said.
EDF’s Carole Trivi told the German Press Agency dpa the blast at the Marcoule site, which is run by Socodei, a subsidiary of EDF, took place in an incinerator used to process low-radioactivity nuclear waste.
She said that there had been no leak of radioactive material.
BFM private television quoted the Atomic Energy Commission as also saying there had been no leak.
BFM had earlier quoted the local prefecture as saying there was a risk of a leak.
The cause of the blast was unknown. Shares in EDF fell sharply on the news, losing over 6 per cent.
The vast Marcoule site, situated about 30 kilometres north of Avignon, near the Mediterranean Sea, contains several small reactors that have all been decommissioned.
France gets 75 per cent of its nuclear power from 58 nuclear reactors.
