First, an overflowing tub at a French nuclear plant spilled uranium into the groundwater. Then a burst pipe leaked uranium at another nuclear site, raising an alert on Friday.
The two accidents within two weeks, both at sites run by French nuclear giant Areva, have raised questions about safety and control measures in one of the world's most nuclear-dependent nations, and given fodder to anti-nuclear activists.
Environmentalists said the incidents are a wake-up call, raising doubts about an industry in which France has staked out a leading role internationally.
France has 59 reactors churning out nearly 80 percent of its electricity, and the French state owns Areva, which exports its nuclear technologies around the world.
French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo insisted that the incidents were minor, but he nonetheless ordered an overhaul of the country's nuclear supervision and information processes, as well as checks of the groundwater around all nuclear plants in France.
Areva Chief Executive Anne Lauvergeon traveled to one of the plants Friday to meet with employees and local officials.
Former French Environment Minister Corinne Lepage, who opposes nuclear energy, said the "repeated incidents ... shine a light on the nuclear industry's failures, mainly due to under-investment in safety, the protection of human health and the environment."
On Friday, nuclear safety officials announced the discovery of a burst underground pipe at a plant in Romans-sur-Isere, southeastern France, run by Areva subsidiary Societe Franco-Belge de Fabrication de Combustibles. Inspectors found that the pipe had been broken for several years and didn't meet safety standards.
Jean-Pierre Gros, Areva's head of combustion, said between 120 and 750 grams of uranium had leaked.
Areva insisted the leak of lightly enriched uranium did not spill beyond the plant, and that it had no impact on the environment.
But the incident was nonetheless another blow for Areva after a leak at the Tricastin site, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the historic southeast city of Avignon. A liquid containing traces of unenriched uranium leaked from a factory run by Areva subsidiary Socatri, spilling from a reservoir that overflowed.
It leaked both into the ground and into two rivers, the Gaffiere and the Lauzon, the nuclear safety agency said. The incident prompted authorities to ban the consumption of well water and the watering of crops from two polluted rivers, as well as fishing, swimming and water sports. Local authorities said the leak happened during the washing of a tank.
Areva insisted the Tricastin problem "did not affect either the health of employees and local populations, or their environment." Still, it cost the plant director his job.
Areva CEO Lauvergeon vowed to resist pressure by anti-nuclear activists to resign over the incidents. During her visits Friday to the two sites, Lauvergeon also said she apologized to residents living near the Tricastin factory.
"I told them we are sorry and that they could count on our solidarity in case of problems," she said.
France's Nuclear Safety Authority classified the Tricastin accident as minor, a 1 on a scale of 0 to 7. Areva suggested the second incident should be labeled a level 1 accident as well.
Borloo, putting the problems in context, said there were 86 level-1 incidents in France in 2007, and 114 in 2006.
But the accidents were bad public relations just as French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been pushing for even heavier investment in the nuclear industry, given spiraling fossil fuel prices.
Sarkozy announced this month that France will build a second new-generation nuclear reactor, or European Pressurized Reactor. Meanwhile, the United States, the European Union, China, India, Russia, Japan and South Korea are working to create an experimental fusion reactor in southern France, which is aimed at revolutionizing global energy use for future generations.
Luis Echavarri, director-general of the Paris-based Nuclear Energy Agency, defended the industry's safety record, saying it compared favorably to other industries such as coal mining.
"You can't ask for perfection from any industry," Echavarri told The Associated Press in a phone interview Friday.
Claiming the incidents had a "negligible" impact on nearby residents, Echavarri said they were not likely to unleash a backlash against nuclear power in France.
"These incidents obviously don't give good publicity to the industry, but they won't have a big impact on public opinion," Echavarri said. "They don't have the magnitude to raise questions about nuclear energy."
Anti-nuclear campaigners, however, said the incidents demonstrate nuclear power's inherent dangers.
"(These) aren't isolated incidents _ it's a global problem," Greenpeace anti-nuclear campaigner Frederic Marillier said of the accidents. "It clearly illustrates the industry's faults _ nuclear is not a 'clean energy' as people sometimes call it."
Independent nuclear policy and energy consultant Mycle Schneider called the incidents "a wake-up call" that raises doubts about the French nuclear industry's "entire control mechanism and the quality of supervision."
Roger Eymard, a 69-year-old retired farmer who lives near the Tricastin site, said residents had up until now trusted the plant's operators.
"But it seems that they didn't have things totally under control," he said. "We never got too worried, but now ... the hardest is knowing where this pollution is going to go."
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Associated Press writer Thierry Boinet in Bollene, France, and Julien Proult in Paris contributed to this report.
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