Update: In 2009, the number 2 reactor building was closed after a fire.
In December 2010, the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) announced it had approved an extension of “ten more years” of the operation of reactor No. 1 the plant. Tricastin involved in uranium enrichment
At Tricastin, in southern France, a more modern diffusion plant with a capacity of 10.8 million kg SWU per year has been operating since 1979 (see photo above).
This Georges Besse I plant can produce enough 3.7% enriched uranium a year to fuel some ninety 1000 MWe nuclear reactors. It will be shut down at the end of 2010 or 2012, depending on the outcome of negotiations between Areva and EdF.
2008 Article Titled – Questions surrounding the events of Tricastin
Update: Station and Plant Managers Refuse To Comment. French Citizen Response to managers refusal to comment:
“I do not understand, we were told that we have the safest plants in the world”
Update: Explosion thought to be transformer outside of reactor building
Saturday, July 2 to 15: 30 pm, An EXPLOSION of the EDF power Tricas.... The Tricastin Nuclear Power Plant is a collection of sites run by Areva and EDF
The site houses 4 Pressurized water reactors of 915 MW each, which were built mostly in the 1970s and brought online in the early 80s.
Tests on 2 July 2004 by the Autorité de sûreté nucléaire (Nuclear Safety Authority) confirmed that response to a fire would take a time of 37 minutes.[1]
In July 2008, 18,000 litres (4,755 Gallons) of Uranium solution containing natural uranium were accidentally released. Due to cleaning and repair work the containment system for a uranium solution holding tank was not functional when the tank filled.
In July 2008, approximately 100 employees were exposed to radioactive particles that escaped from a pipe in a reactor that had been shut down.[8] Additionally, a nuclear waste leak that apparently had remained undiscovered since 2005 spilled into a concrete protective shell in Romans-sur-Isere.
Residents are worried about a column of black smoke that rose into the sky.
The explosion of the transformer of Unit 1 plant, which is stationary. Installation is located outside the nuclear zone. No one was hurt and there was no damage to the environment.
As always when an incident affecting the nuclear site, a large number of firefighters and police converged the scene.
The fire was contained to 15 h 55. More information in Ardèche & Drôme editions of the Dauphine Libere and Vaucluse Matin, Sunday, July 3.news.lucaswhitefieldhixson.com
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