Paris (Platts)--22Sep2008

French authorities are not considering evacuation around Tricastin,
according to the deputy prefect of the Vaucluse departement (county),
Jean-Charles Geray. He was responding September 22 to media queries after the
antinuclear organization Sortir du Nucleaire, or SdN, issued a press release
saying there was the possibility of imminent danger connected with a fuel
handling mishap at Electricite de France's Tricastin-2 on September 8. SdN
said that the two fuel assemblies that remained stuck in the reactor's upper
internals during refueling operations could fall into the reactor core and
"potentially trigger an uncontrolled nuclear reaction." It added that if the
assemblies were mixed-oxide fuel, the risks would be even greater. SdN
suggested that communities near the plant site, on the Rhone River near
Valence, or even the "affected departements," should be evacuated "before it's
too late." EDF said last week it was working on a way to recapture the
assemblies, and on September 22 a plant official told Le Dauphine Libere
newspaper that the situation was unchanged and there was no reason to fear for
the reactor's safety.