France's largest energy company, EDF, announced on Tuesday that an inspection to verify the integrity of a nuclear reactor at a power plant in the southwest of the country was stopped when a radioactive leak was discovered.
The international company, which is considered one of the largest electricity producers in the world, said that the incident took place last Wednesday, but at no point was there any danger to the general public as the entire incident was within the boundaries of the station.
The test actually consisted of hydraulic operations designed to check the integrity of the main circuits of the control and cooling mechanism of the reactor at the Civaux power station on November 2.
During the test, steam was released into the hall where the reactor is located, but since there was no nuclear fuel in the reactor at that moment, none of the station's workers were injured.
Also, the radioactive leak actually remained inside the building, and there were no workers in the immediate vicinity of the reactor anyway.
"The leakage from the circuits was located and the water [that came out] was contained within the facilities designated for it and remained inside the reactor facility," said EDF, which added that there is no security concern for the safety of the station.
Although this is not a catastrophic event, it has possible consequences for France's ability to deal with the current energy crisis, in preparation for the expected drop in temperatures and the lack of gas from Russia in the face of Western sanctions.
If the inspection was completed as planned, the reactor was expected to be fully operational at the beginning of January, but now its operation will probably be delayed, and perhaps thereby the electricity supply in the country will be damaged.
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