On a chilly Saturday morning in the quiet French village of Avoine, nestled along the Loire river, the tranquility was shattered by an unexpected event. Just before dawn, a fire erupted at the Chinon nuclear power plant, one of France's oldest and most formidable energy facilities. The incident prompted an automatic shutdown of reactors 3 and 4, a move designed to safeguard the plant and the surrounding communities.

The fire ignited in a non-nuclear section of the plant, specifically in the main transformer of reactor 3. The rapid response from the emergency services, coupled with the plant's robust safety mechanisms, ensured that the blaze was contained before it could spread to other parts of the facility. The immediate shutdown of reactors 3 and 4 was a precautionary measure, triggered by an electricity cut caused by the fire.