Incident Fire alarm in the furnace hall of the interim storage facility in Würenlingen AG
On Friday morning, there was a heavy smoke development in the furnace hall of the interim storage facility for radioactive waste in Würenlingen AG. According to the operator Zwilag, the cause is a technical defect in a compressed air supply system.
06.12.2024, 15:35
06.12.2024, 15:58
SDA
There is no danger to people or the environment, as Zwischenlager Würenlingen AG wrote in a press release. No smoke or radioactivity was released into the environment, said Christoph Trösch, Zwilag's media spokesman, when asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency. No smoke was seen outside the building.
According to Zwilag, the technical defect in a compressed air supply system caused a flue gas flap to close automatically shortly after 08:00. This created a slight overpressure in the furnace.
This caused combustion gases to enter the furnace hall. According to Zwilag, the spread of the smoke was limited to the inside of the building. The fire alarm was triggered in the plasma plant building.
The fire department and the Zwilag emergency team were called out immediately and the nuclear supervisory authority, the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (Ensi), was informed. The situation was under control. No persons were injured.
Destroying organic matter
According to the Ensi, the task of the incineration and melting plant (plasma plant) in the interim storage facility is to remove the organic material components from the combustible and meltable low-level radioactive waste by incineration and to transfer the radioactive residues into an inert slag matrix.
The fire department of the Paul Scherrer Institute was deployed together with Zwilag Zwischenlager Würenlingen AG. The emergency team is in contact with Ensi. Zwilag Zwischenlager Würenlingen AG will analyze the incident together with Ensi, it said. Ensi published the Zwilag press release on its website.
