Nuclear power plant evacuated in bomb alert

A nuclear power station at Chinon in central France was evacuated on Thursday after a phone call warning of a bomb, power supplier EDF said.

EDF said the anonymous phone call was made at 0355 GMT and that, while searches continued, the core ares of the plant had been secured.

The nuclear plant was still functioning, EDF added.

"We will know at the start of the afternoon (around 1200 GMT) whether there is a bomb or not," an EDF spokeswoman said by telephone.

The Chinon plant, which has four 900-megawatt nuclear reactors, supplies electricity to around 6 percent of the French population.