It is part of the requirements of the facility's Interior Emergency Plan and has been developed within normality.
Starting at 10:30 a.m. today, Friday, the Juzbado fuel factory carried out the annual emergency drill, as stated in the facility's Internal Emergency Plan.
The event began during maneuvers in the uranium oxide powder warehouse. There is an impact between a forklift and the roller conveyor of the quarantine warehouse, which causes four drums of powder to fall to the ground and open, in addition to spilling a drum with 40 liters of oil that the forklift was transporting.
Two people who were in the area gave the warning and went to the Decontamination Room as a precaution. At those times, a first Category II Emergency Alert situation is declared for “Spill of uranium oxide dust that has caused inhalation or that may pose a risk of inhalation or criticality in the activities after the accident.”
The facility is brought to stable and safe conditions, stopping the movement of nuclear material in the Ceramic and Mechanical zones, as well as the process equipment, and the facility is taken from Operation Mode 1 to Operation Mode 4.
As a result of the drums falling, it is confirmed that the two people who were in the area have been superficially contaminated, which is why they require assistance from the facility's Medical Service.
Furthermore, the oil spill ends up mixing with the accumulation of dust on the ground, causing a criticality accident and triggering the declaration of a Site Emergency, Category III situation.
Emergency teams assess the situation and define the actions to be taken to return to normality. At that moment, the end of the drill is declared, which has been carried out correctly and within normality.
The drill is part of the Juzbado Interior Emergency Plan. These types of actions are carried out periodically at nuclear facilities to check the correct functioning of the Emergency Organization, the availability of the means and the coordination with the organizations involved.
For more information, consult the CSN page, where this action is recorded: www.csn.es.
