Toulouse (AFP)

The pulp factory of the company Fiber Excellence, classified Seveso 2, in Saint-Gaudens (Haute-Garonne), was shut down on Sunday after a quickly circumscribed incident, said the prefecture, specifying that "no toxicity in the air has not been raised ".

"The black liquor boiler of the Fiber Excellence site suffered a loss of tightness on Saturday at 7.20 pm. Molten sodium at 950 ° C (saline) flowed out, which generated low intensity explosions, due in particular to contact with water ", according to the prefecture.

"Some fumes were also observed. The impact of this incident is limited inside the site", add the State services in a press release.

No casualties are to be deplored on the site located nearly 100 km south-west of Toulouse.

The boiler was immediately shut down and "sandbags were placed near the saline heaps to prevent any further contact with liquid products."

In total, nearly 75 state agents were mobilized, including 60 firefighters.

The chlorine dioxide and sodium chlorate storage facilities, which classify the site as "high threshold Seveso", are far from the disaster area.

The operation of the boiler is suspended by prefectural decree.

An inspection will be carried out on Monday by the Regional Directorate for the Environment (DREAL) Occitanie.

"We take this incident very seriously and are currently fully mobilized to ensure that the good control deployed during the incident continues in this closing phase", indicated the management of the company.

- "Environmental health" -

"The cooling of the boiler is in progress and our teams are hard at work planning the cleaning and inspection operations of our facilities, which will start on Monday," she continued in a press release.

"The equipment affected by the incident underwent major renovations in June 2019, and according to the latest inspections carried out, it meets the required specifications," according to management.

"Our top priority is to ensure the safety of people and equipment. No restart will take place until the necessary cleaning, inspections, repairs and tests have been completed, in close coordination with the competent authorities", she continues.

Following this incident, the EELV list for regional elections expressed its concern: "Environmentalists, we had already alerted a few weeks ago to the environmental health risks generated by this plant".

"This plant benefits from several exemptions for exceeding regulatory thresholds on the emission of various polluting gases. Regarding industrial safety, the plant was recently the subject of two formal notices from the prefecture for reminder of work not carried out. on time, "according to EELV.

"The boiler in which the fire occurred is the one whose power was to be increased by a transformation project subject to public inquiry, currently under investigation by the State services", underlines the environmentalist list led by Antoine Maurice in a press release.

Another company pulp mill, located in Tarascon (Bouches-du-Rhône), has been in receivership since the fall.

This company of some 300 employees on which thousands of loggers in France depend has received only one takeover proposal, that of Canadian Paper Excellence, its shareholder since 2010.

© 2021 AFP