Paris - The surprise discovery of 22 kilos of plutonium during the dismantling of a nuclear technology plant in southern France has raised worries about atomic security, French media reported Thursday. The French Nuclear Security Authority (ASN) announced that the plutonium was found stored in glove lockers in a disused plant in the city of Cadareche. The dismantling work was immediately suspended.
Only 8 kilos of plutonium was officially declared as being stored in the facility, which is owned by the research company CEA and used primarily by the nuclear technology firm AREVA. The ASN said that as much as 39 kilos could eventually be found on the site.
The ASN classified the incident as level 2 on the 7-level International Nuclear Events Scale (INES).
"The under-estimation of the quantity of plutonium has led to a substantial reduction of the safety margins foreseen to prevent a criticality accident," the ASN said in a press statement.
A criticality accident occurs when a nuclear chain reaction occurs accidentally in fissile material. It could lead to the occurrence of dangerous levels of neutron radiation.
Greenpeace-France head Yannick Rousselet called it "one of the worst incidents in a long time in a nuclear facility," and fiercely criticized the carelessness that led to it.
"They let kilos of (plutonium) lying about, although it is so dangerous that every gram is important," he added.
In a statement, CEA said it had "verbally" informed the ASN in June of a discrepancy between the estimated quantities stored in the glove lockers and the amount that would be found there.
