French Reactors Flooded By Storms: Wednesday January 5, 2000 9:41 pm

PARIS (AP) - Storm waters flooded two French nuclear reactors in late December, damaging ``important equipment'' but posing no danger to surrounding communities, nuclear safety experts said Wednesday. ``At no time was the situation threatening,'' the French Nuclear Safety Authority said in a statement.

On Dec. 27, after severe storms had pounded southern France, flood waters inundated the circuits and pumps on two nuclear reactors near Bordeaux, the statement said. Some equipment was damaged, and the reactors were shut down. They remain out of operation. The accident was rated a Level 2 accident, on an international scale ranging from 1 to 7. The highest classification, Level 7, corresponds to an accident on the scale of that in Chernobyl, Ukraine.

The situation is now stable, and new measures are being put into place to prevent a reoccurrence, the Nuclear Safety Authority said. However, the reactors will not be restarted until measures are taken to protect them from exceptional weather conditions, which will keep them out of operation for at least several weeks, officials said. France is one of the world's most nuclear-dependant countries, getting 77 percent of its power from nuclear energy.

-- Risteard Mac Thomais (uachtaran@ireland.com), January 06, 2000