At 10:03 this morning an incident occurred at the Institut Laue-Langevin during an operation to clean a ca. 300-litre glove box in preparation for its period inspection. For an as yet unknown reason, the alcohol-based cleaning agent being used ignited. This caused a small fire to break out in the glove box, causing considerable damage to the rear section of the box. The worker involved extinguished the fire immediately. The reactor building was then evacuated at his request.
The readings taken show that no one at the scene of the incident was contaminated. Only the worker performing the cleaning operation suffered a minor injury to his hand.
There was no release to the environment as a result of the incident.
The nuclear safety authority (ASN) in Lyons and the Préfecture have been contacted. The CLI (local information commission) has been informed. An initial analysis of the incident was carried out during the afternoon in the presence of representatives of the ASN and the labour inspectorate.
The ILL is an international research institute which uses neutron beams produced by its high-flux reactor to conduct scientific experiments.
