Noumea (AFP)
An employee was killed Monday morning following the explosion of the power plant that supplies the metallurgical plant of Société Le Nickel (SLN) in New Caledonia, the French archipelago of the South Pacific, announced Monday the operator of unity.
Seriously injured in the explosion, the employee succumbed to her injuries, according to the same source.
The explosion, the origins of which are currently being investigated, occurred Monday at 8 a.m. (local time) at the fuel-fired power plant, which supplies the SLN metallurgical plant, a subsidiary of the French company Eramet, located in France. he entry to Nouméa, capital of the French overseas collectivity.
An Enercal agent, who manages the 150 Megawatt unit, died in the early afternoon of her injuries at the territorial hospital, the company said in a statement, which sent its support to relatives of the victim.
"All the technical recommendations have been put in place to secure the site. (...) The facilities are now secure. An investigation is underway," Nicolas de Cointet, director of operations at Enercal.
The accident occurred on one of the four boilers, during a restart test phase after an overhaul of this aging and polluting plant, built around 50 years ago.
Many times postponed, the project to build a new gas-fired power station could see the light of day by 2024.
SLN is New Caledonia's largest private employer, and last year produced 47,000 tonnes of ferronickel.
© 2021 AFP