Blast kills one at nuclear site

PARIS – An explosion at a nuclear waste facility in southern France killed one person and injured four on Monday. Authorities said there was no radioactive leak, but critics urged France to rethink its nuclear power in the wake of the catastrophe at Japan’s Fukushima plant.

The Nuclear Safety Authority declared the accident “terminated” soon after the blast at a furnace in the Centraco site, in the southern Languedoc-Roussillon region. One of the injured suffered severe burns.

The agency said the situation had been brought under control less than an hour after it broke out shortly past noon. The building that houses the furnace wasn’t damaged, no leaks were reported and residents who live near the site were not evacuated, the agency said in a statement.

The cause of the accident is not known, and an investigation is under way, authorities said.