Ravaged by a spectacular fire in June 2020 while he was in maintenance in Toulon, the submarine underwent on Monday a flameless combustion which led to the intervention of nearly 100 firefighters.
Le Monde with AFP
The disaster which had declared itself on the pearl nuclear submarine, currently under construction at the Naval base of Toulon, is finished, told the France-Presse agency on the night of Monday, September 27, September 27 The maritime prefecture, specifying that any radioactive risk is excluded. Rava by a spectacular fire in June 2020 when he was in maintenance in Toulon, the pearl had to undergo heavy repairs in Cherbourg. He then returned Toulon in October 2021 for the finalization of the interior work in particular.
Monday at midday, a combustion “a priori of insulating materials” has been detected “in a room intended for storage of food” at the front of the submarine, added to AFP The spokesperson for the maritime prefecture Pierre-Louis Josselin. Forty firefighters from the naval base, reinforced by 52 Marseille firefighters, then attacked “hot spots, that is to say a combustion without flames”, using water for Reduce the temperature, he added.
Later in the evening, the maritime prefecture told AFP that “these hot spots have been extinguished”, specifying in a press release that “as a precaution, the submarine remains under surveillance of the teams of Intervention “. The Marseille firefighters had left the premises.
“There was no radioactive risk, the submarine being in cold stop”, that is to say charged with nuclear fuel in its rear part, “but the reactor at the stop”, had specified earlier in the evening Mr. Josselin, indicating that samples were taken to ensure the absence of risks.
If the maritime prefecture had first mentioned a “fire” in a statement, he preferred to speak of “combustion without flames”. The causes of the claim were not determined at this stage, he added. Naval Group is carrying out work on this military building.
“This disaster was not comparable to that of 2020, which was an industrial fire, with large flames”, according to the spokesperson for the maritime prefecture.
He could not specify if there would be consequences on the return to the operational cycle of the pearl, initially planned in the first half of 2023. The rehabilitation of the pearl is an important element of the naval strategy which is based on the presence of six nuclear attack submarines, one of the missions of which is to support the nuclear launcher nuclear submarines (SNLE), but also to escort the aircraft carrier Charles- de-Gaulle, key elements of French deterrence.