The French energy company EDF announced that a fire broke out during the night between Friday and Saturday at the nuclear power plant in Chinon, in Indre-et-Loire, outside the nuclear zone. “Around 2.40am a fire broke out in the main transformer of production unit number 3, located outside the nuclear zone. The production unit number 3 of the Chinon nuclear power plant shut down automatically, in accordance with the safety and protection systems of the reactor”, explained EDF which added that the plant's intervention teams “immediately went to the place and, in accordance with procedures, external emergency services were called. The fire is out.”
On its website, the ASN, the Nuclear Safety Agency, reported that an internal emergency plan has been activated: “The loss of the main external power supply to reactor 3, following this fire, has led upon automatic shutdown of the reactor. The firefighting equipment needed to extinguish the fire has been brought into service,” he confirmed. “In addition to unit number 3, production unit number 4 is also safely stopped.”
#France #fire #Chinon #nuclear #power #plant #reactors #shut
