One person was killed and four injured Monday following an explosion at a nuclear waste treatment facility owned by power giant Electricite de France SA in Southern France .

Local officials said the blast took place late morning at a nuclear waste treatment incinerator next to the Marcoule atomic research center. An oven used to melt low-level radioactive waste exploded causing a fire to break out, according to the French nuclear safety agency.

EDF confirmed the explosion at the incinerator, which doesn't generate electricity, but said there were no radioactive or chemical leaks as a result. Nuclear experts in France were quick to play down the impact of the fire at the waste treatment facility.

"There is no chemical or nuclear risk as we speak," said a spokeswoman for French Industry Minister Eric Besson. "It's an industrial accident, not a nuclear accident."

The incinerator burns low-level radioactive waste, such as rubber gloves and metal taps, used in nuclear facilities, said Olivier Isnard, an emergency management expert at the French Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety. The fire was soon put out and the building housing the incinerator wasn't badly damaged, he said. As a result, the radioactivity level at the site is likely to be "very very low," said Mr. Isnard.

Socodei, the company that runs the incinerator, is a fully-owned subsidiary of EDF. Socodei didn't respond to calls seeking comment.

Coming just six months after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan , the explosion caused EDF's share price to plummet 7.5% on fears of another radioactive spill, before recovering to trade down 2.6%. The fire also revived debate surrounding the additional safety measures that the nuclear industry needs to put in place in the coming months.

"Clearly nuclear safety is increasingly becoming a key issue for utilities and incidents like that could have an effect on policies and investment requirements," said a London-based analyst who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Anti-nuclear campaigner Greenpeace questioned why the incinerator wasn't included in the safety stress tests that are currently being carried out at nuclear power plants across the country. "It shows once again that France has not learnt any lessons from Fukushima ," said a spokesman at Greenpeace.

In 2011 France 's nuclear safety regulator issued a warning over safety measures at the waste treatment site and said the incinerator's fire detectors failed to function correctly.

The 700-strong population of Codolet, the village where the waste treatment plant is located, wasn't evacuated, EDF and local officials said. One of the four wounded was seriously injured, the nuclear safety agency said.

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