EDF : French Nuclear Body : Level 1 Incident At Flamanville's Plant
10/25/2012| 08:45am US/Eastern
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By Geraldine Amiel
PARIS--A leak at the reactor No. 1 of Electricite de France SA's (EDF.FR) Flamanville plant late Wednesday didn't trigger any environmental damage or threatened the health of any employee, the French nuclear safety regulator Autorite de Surete Nucleaire said Thursday.
The ASN defined it as a level 1 incident on the International Nuclear Event Scale, that gauges the seriousness of any abnormal event at nuclear installations.
The reactor had been halted for maintenance and refueling since the end of July and was in the last stages of the restarting process when the leak occurred. It happened as an auxiliary circuit to the primary circuit was put back under pressure during a maintenance operation, the ASN explained.
The restarting process was stopped and the reactor put back on "cold halt" while the leak was addressed and stopped early Thursday, the ASN said, noting that there had been no radioactive contamination.
An investigation is underway into the incident, the ASN also said.
-Write to Geradine Amiel at geraldine.amiel@dowjones.com
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