A fire that raged for 14 hours on one of
France's nuclear-powered attack submarines did not lead to an atomic accident
as steps were taken to protect its reactor, the defence minister said Saturday.
The submarine was under renovation in the
southern base of Toulon when the blaze broke out at about 10:30 am (0830 GMT)
on Friday in a hard-to-access part of the lower bow section, the navy said.
It then took around 100 firefighters and 150
support crew to put out the blaze by around midnight (2200 GMT Friday), the
navy said in a statement.
"There was a fire, but no, there was not
a nuclear accident," Defence Minister Florence Parly said.
Parly added that during the fire
"measures were taken in the rear area to protect the nuclear reactor
compartment".
The navy said earlier there were no
casualties and no risk of radiation because the nuclear fuel had been removed
during the renovation of La Perle (The Pearl), one of France's six nuclear
attack submarines.
The extent of the damage -- and what started
the fire -- were not immediately clear but an official with the Naval Group
repair centre called the incident "serious."
The regional authorities said that pollution
and radioactivity tests carried out by independent experts had not found
anything out of the ordinary.
But French nuclear watchdog association
CRIIRAD said that a nearby measurement found that radioactivity levels had
oscillated at low levels for a few hours in the days leading up to the fire.
The NGO said the "troubling"
phenomenon "could have several explanations," but that it did
"raise questions".
Parly responded by saying that "a
natural radioactive element was emitted in infinitesimal quantities before the
fire," adding that it showed that "we have an extremely sensitive and
effective detection system".
Parly said a damage analysis would determine
whether the vessel can be repaired, adding that it was lucky that almost all of
the sub's equipment was not on board.
A judicial investigation and technical probe
have been launched.
The submarine, which entered service in 1993,
docked at Toulon in January for 18 months of renovation work that was to keep
it operational until the end of the decade.
The vessel, which can dive to 300 metres (985
feet) with a crew of 70, is an attack submarine used for tracking ships,
escorting aircraft carriers, carrying out coastal intelligence missions, and
deploying special forces.
In addition to its six nuclear-powered attack
submarines, France also operates four nuclear ballistic missile submarines.
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