By Inti Landauro 

PARIS--A fire and a blast forced French state-controlled power utility Electricite de France SA, or EDF, to halt its Flamanville nuclear power plant Thursday morning, the company said.

The fire and subsequent explosion happened in the "non-nuclear zone" of the plant, in north-western France, and no one was hurt. The incident hasn't done harm to the environment either, the company said.

"The blaze was immediately controlled by the crews in the power plant," EDF said. "There are no consequences on the safety of the plant or the environment."

The incident comes at a time when the safety of the 58 reactors the company operates in France is being scrutinized. An order by the local nuclear regulator has asked to halt a series of reactors to test a few nuclear parts that were thought to be faulty.

EDF is building a second reactor on the site of Flamanville. The construction is running out of budget and is already several years behind schedule.

Write to Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 09, 2017 08:02 ET (13:02 GMT)