One dead and three injured after incident at Ascó's nuclear facility

One person has died after an incident at Ascó Nuclear Power Plant on Wednesday evening. Emergency services also informed that three other workers were injured after inhaling carbon dioxide.

According to an investigation by the Nuclear Safety Council, the victim died after moving to a specific zone of the building to help some of their colleagues who were doing maintenance work on the fire protection system.

First reports point to an overcharge in the fire protection system as the possible cause of the CO2 leak, the system used to extinguish fires. However, as of now, the cause of the leak has not been confirmed.

Seven teams of firefighters and four health emergency units were deployed to the Ascó facility.

Firefighters checked the area before confirming that no other workers were near the incident zone. 

The person who passed away was a 46-year-old firefighter working for the nuclear power plant. 

Trade union UGT condemned the events, urging authorities to implement measures to guarantee employees' safety in such workplaces. Moreover, the organization expressed outrage at the fact that companies treat health and safety procedures as "unnecessary and an obstacle while they are increasing their profit."

Anav, the nuclear association linked to Ascó and Vandellòs plants, explained that workers were doing maintenance work on the fire protection system of a control building when some carbon dioxide leaked. Yet, Anav says, no damage to the premises or the environment has been observed.