REPORTAGE
Less than three months after its fire, the Lubrizol plant in Rouen, partly ravaged by the flames, is about to reopen partially. Tuesday evening, the departmental committee on the environment and health and technological risks (Coderst) has issued a favorable opinion. An opinion that the prefect of Seine-Maritime will follow.
Employees want to reassure the population
This decision necessarily relieves the employees of the factory who now have a goal: to restore confidence and educate the population, still sometimes traumatized by the fire. Francis Malandin, employee representative, wants to open the doors of the plant, Seveso classified site, to local residents. A way to reassure them that they see with their own eyes that reopened workshops are safe. "The unit that Lubrizol wants to put back in place is a unit of mixing products between them, which do not generate a chemical reaction," explains another representative, Corinne Adam.
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A premature green light?
There will be almost no more inventory in the plant. Smoke detectors and additional large fire extinguishers are being installed. The Lubrizol site will be surrounded by a buffer zone, with no activity. Despite these provisions, Charlotte Goujon, mayor of Petit-Quevilly, neighboring city of Rouen, considers the reopening premature. "These commitments on security, they should have been taken and verified by elected officials and an independent structure," says the mayor. The prefect will now take a decision in favor of the recovery, but he recalls that no total reopening can be done identically.