SoylentNews

-- OriginalOwner_ [tinyurl.com] writes:

from the don't-panic dept.

Power Engineering International reports [powerengineeringint.com]

An explosion has been reported at unit 1 turbine hall of Flamanville nuclear power plant in northwest France.

The incident has been reported by local media, Ouest-France newspaper and M6 Radio station. These sources claim five people have suffered minor injuries as a result of the explosion.

A government official says there is no nuclear risk, and at midday EDF spokesperson Laurence Ollier confirmed, "At 9.40[1] this morning, a fire resulting in a minor explosion broke out in the turbine hall on the non-nuclear part of unit 1 at the Flamanville nuclear power plant."

"The fire was immediately brought under control by the plant's response team. As per normal procedure, the fire brigade went to the affected location and confirmed that the fire had been extinguished."

[...]"It is a significant technical event but it is not a nuclear accident" because the explosion occurred "outside the nuclear zone", said Olivier Marmion, director of the state prefect's office.

[...]"Five people were slightly intoxicated but they are not injured", added Marmion, who said at the time of the incident seven employees were on site.

The area of the incident has variously been called a turbine hall, an engine room, and a mechanical room. It has further been described as a long structure, separated from the nuclear portion of the facility.

[1] Is using a decimal in a base60 number a commonly-used thing somewhere or are these guys making up their own notation?
.
.
.
The URL for TheLocal in the submission by GreatAuntAnesthesia could benefit by the addition of the fragment identifier #article. #maincontent could be added to the URL to TheGuardian as well.

Original Submission