The Lubrizol chemical plant in Rouen, hit by a spectacular fire on September 26, has been authorized to significantly increase its activity, according to a prefectoral decree published on Wednesday.
Provisions to "limit the probability of a fire"
"The measures taken by the operator in terms of reducing the quantities of packaged products stored and the safety barriers in terms of fire prevention and extinction make it possible to limit the probability and the consequences of a fire", writes the prefecture of Seine-Maritime in this 77-page framework decree published on its website. On July 7, the Departmental Council for the Environment and Health and Technological Risks (Coderst) gave a positive opinion to this increase in activity.
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The prefecture had then underlined in a press release that this decision implied "a drastic reduction in the storage capacity of liquid products in barrels and a strict observance of the requirements in terms of fire safety, site security ... already enacted in the first decree of December 13, 2019 partial resumption of activity ".
The factory can rotate up to 80% of its capacity
The framework order authorizes the chemical plant to run at 70/80% of its capacity against 30% previously, explained the prefect of Normandy Pierre-André Durand Friday. The mayor of Rouen PS Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol had opposed this increase in activity at the Lubrizol factory on Friday. "To date, no automatic alert system (SMS, emails ...) has been set up" in the event of an accident and "to our knowledge (...) the public resources necessary in the event of a disaster have not been significantly increased, "he argued.
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On September 26, nearly 10,000 tonnes of chemicals had burned on the Lubrizol site and that of its neighbor Normandie Logistique. A cloud of black smoke, 22 km long, had formed. No one was injured in the fire, but the long-term health consequences remain unclear.