Police patrol a nuclear waste treatment plant in southern France where an explosion killed one person and left four injured. The blast happened on Monday in a furnace at the Centraco site, where waste with low to very low radioactivity is melted down. A plant spokesman says no radioactive material leaked from the site.
(SOUNDBITE) (French) SPOKESMAN FOR THE WASTE TREATMENT PLANT ROLAND VIERNE SAYING: "The incident has been contained in the room where the oven is. There is no impact either around this room nor outside the site. I want to reassure the population that there is absolutely no consequence linked to any discharge, whether radiological or chemical." Owned by France's main power utility, Centraco is adjacent to the Marcoule nuclear research center. The blast comes as stress tests continue at France's 58 nuclear reactors in response to Japan's Fukushima disaster in March. France relies more on nuclear power than any other country in the world. Katharine Jackson, Reuters.
