The incident, fortunately, concerns “the non-nuclear part”… A fire started mobilized the firefighters and the EDF teams on Sunday late morning at the
centrale de Cruas-Meysse, we learned from EDF, confirming information from
France Blue Drome Ardeche and you Dauphine Libere.
Fire brought under control at 12:37 p.m.
“The intervention of firefighters and EDF teams made it possible to declare the fire extinguished at 12:37 p.m.”, according to EDF. “The situation being under control, the teams will be gradually demobilized, in agreement with the ASN” (Nuclear Safety Authority), the same source said.
A fire alarm went off around 11:15 a.m. “following the heating of a ventilation duct in the engine room of production unit no. 1 in the non-nuclear part of the facilities”.
“In application of the management procedures for this type of event, the internal emergency plan “fire outside the controlled area” has been implemented to have all the skills necessary in the event of an unfavorable development of the situation” , specifies EDF.
The incident did not affect the operation of the production unit
“The first elements of analysis show that the sheath has melted, resulting in the release of smoke”, adds EDF. According to the operator, the incident did not affect the operation of production unit no. 1, which “operates at full power”.
“Units 2 and 3 are also available to the network”, while “unit n°4 is on scheduled shutdown for carrying out its partial visit” since Saturday.
France is currently experiencing reduced availability of its nuclear fleet, linked to a heavy maintenance schedule, further disrupted by the 2020 confinements. The electricity network operator RTE announced on Friday that it was maintaining its “vigilance over the end of the ‘winter’ for the supply of the country. To give itself some leeway, the government has relaxed the limits on the use of its last coal-fired power stations this winter.