Explosion occurred at the Marcoule Nuclear Reprocessing Plant in Southern France

An explosion occurred at the Marcoule nuclear reprocessing plant in southern France on 12 September 2011. The explosion resulted in the death of one person while three were seriously injured.

The explosion took place at the Centraco nuclear waste treatment centre, which belongs to Socodei, a subsidiary of the energy giant EDF. Marcoule, in the southern Gard region, is a major nuclear site. Its three reactors have been decommissioned. It is currently a base for reprocessing nuclear waste. \

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

The site at which the explosion took place is partly used by French nuclear giant Areva to produce mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, which recycles plutonium from nuclear weapons.

MOX fuel is considered more dangerous from the radioactivity point of view because it uses a mix of uranium and plutonium. MOX fuel is used in the EPR type of reactors that India is planning to purchase from France.

With its 58 reactors, France is the second largest producer of nuclear energy and EDF is a world leader in building and running nuclear power plants.