Big scare in Fontenay-aux-Roses (Hauts-de-Seine). This Thursday, a person was slightly injured and contaminated, then decontaminated, after a fire broke out in the abandoned laboratory of the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), the nuclear safety authority (ASNR) announced.
ASNR indicated that it had “activated its crisis organization on 20 November 2025 at 16:15 after the CEA Fontenay-aux-Roses site triggered its internal emergency plan following a fire at the installation site (INB 165) which was being dismantled”.
A “mobile cell” on site
“The ASNR team was mobilized at the crisis center located in Fontenay-aux-Roses, to assess the situation and the associated risks to the population and the environment,” added the Authority, nuclear power plant police.
A “mobile cell” was sent to the site “to take radioactivity measurements near the site”, specifically on a public road. These measurements “confirm the absence of releases,” added ASNR, which is in contact with the CEA and the prefecture.
“Therefore, the event had no impact on the population or environment,” ASNR concluded.
Three people were at the scene at the time of the incident, one of whom was “slightly injured and contaminated”, according to the regulator. “He was decontaminated by the site team and was later able to return home.”
A “rare” event.
The incident occurred at a former laboratory for studying spent fuel reprocessing, said ASNR commissioner Olivier Dubois. The laboratory, which opened in the 1960s, has been closed since 1995. This is a “rare” occurrence, said Olivier Dubois.
“These people were tasked with carrying out radioactive powder reconditioning operations, and when the powder was sucked up for reconditioning, the powder caught fire,” he explained. The cause is unknown at this stage.
ASNR added in its press release that “everyone in the building was evacuated and tested as a precaution” and “no contamination was detected.” The operation to secure the affected sites will be completed by Thursday evening.
