Explosion at Nuclear Plant in France Kills One, Injures Four

The Marcoule nuclear power complex, where an explosion killed a worker on Monday, is located near Avignon, France.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CEA_Marcoule_Site.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


An explosion has occurred at a nuclear waste processing plant in France, killing one and inuring four. The plant is located in the south of France, near the Marcoule nuclear research center. It produces MOX—or mixed oxide—fuel, which is used to recycle plutonium from nuclear weapons. In a statement, the French Nuclear Safety Authority said that the explosion occurred in an oven used to melt metallic waste.

There’s no evidence the blast was caused by a radiation leak, according to the ASN. Despite that, firefighters have established a security perimeter around the plant, ABC reports. ABC also reports the French interior ministry is saying that no one has been evacuated from the surrounding area, and that the explosion’s victims “have not been contaminated.”

“There are several detectors on the outside and none of them detected anything, the building is sound,” an advisor at the ministry told AFP. But the cause of the blast is yet to be determined.

The Marcoule plant is one of the oldest in France, which gets 75 percent of its power from nuclear technology. In June, the country pledged to invest one billion euros in future nuclear power development and research in nuclear security.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate