Fatal platform fall at French plant

Friday, 1 March 2013

Two contract workers have died and a third seriously injured in an accident during maintenance work in a reactor building at EDF's Cattenom nuclear power plant in north-eastern France.

The four-unit Cattenom plant (Image: EDF)

The accident happened at about 5.00pm on 28 February as the workers - employed by contractors Presiozo-Technilor and TLS Tractel - were reportedly painting or treating the walls of the unit 4's reactor building. They were working on a platform which appears to have become detached, dropping the workers several metres to the floor below.

EDF said that although help was immediately sent, two of the workers could not be resuscitated and died from their injuries. The third worker was severely injured.

The utility stated that an investigation has been launched into the exact cause of the accident. The French Nuclear Safety Authority (Autorité De Sûreté Nucléaire, ASN) has also sent inspectors to the plant to investigate the accident.

The accident occurred at Cattenom 4 - a 1300 MWe pressurized water reactor - which has been offline since 9 February, when it entered a ten-year inspection. Maintenance work has been scheduled to be conducted during this inspection period.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News