On November 22, 1995 Ignalina 2 was under normal operation at the thermal power of 3750 MW. Electrical power of turbogenerators TG 3/4 was 500 MW/700 MW respectively. At 15:11 pm the fastacting valves between a group of the ECCS pressurized tanks and the reactor spuriously opened. The operator took notice of the opening and shut the valves off. The other two ECCS trains stayed in waiting mode. The opening caused the release of 12 tons of the water from the ECCS pressurized tanks. Reactor power was decreased by 450 MW to investigate the cause of the opening. At 17:11 pm the affected ECCS train was brought back into the waiting mode and reactor power started building up. Justification of rating: Table II A-2 of INES users manual.
A vast subsea nuclear graveyard planned to hold Britain’s burgeoning piles of radioactive waste is set to become the biggest, longest-lasting and most expensive infrastructure project ever undertaken in the UK. The project [UK's nuclear waste dump] is now predicted to take more than 150yrs to complete with lifetime costs of £66bn in today’s money...The […]
Last year, the Dutch Province of Limburg started an alliance in which, besides the local government, research institutes, small nuclear reactor (SMR) developers, utilities, industrial customers and funders cooperated. With this "Limburg SMR alliance" Limburg tried to lead the way towards an SMR in Limburg. The preferred site for a first SMR would be Chemelot, […]
From the IPFM: During a visit to the Civaux nuclear power plant on 18 March 2024, France's Minister of the Armed Forces unveiled a plan to use the plant to produce tritium for the French nuclear weapons program. Civaux is a civilian power plant that belongs to and is operated by Electricité de France. According […]
An analysis by the Norwegian NGO Bellona of transborder trade operations with the customs code 840130 (irradiated fuel assemblies or fuel elements) show a more than twofold increase of import to EU countries of fresh nuclear fuel in cash terms – from 280 million Euros in 2022 to 686 million Euros in 2023. In physical […]
The French government has said it is "seriously" studying the option of building a plant to convert and enrich reprocessed uranium to cut its reliance on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. The only plant in the world that currently converts reprocessed uranium for use in nuclear power plants is in Russia. "The option of […]