Unit N1 was in unplanned outage from 20.04.96, the reactor in cold shutdown condition. Residual heat was removed routinely by second channel of core cooling system. The first channel of this system was taken out of service for maintenance, the third one was in standby mode of operation. At 18:17 30.04.96 running pump of second channel switched off due to pressure drop at the pump inlet. The third channel's pump started up and switched off shortly afterwards due to the same reason. Feed and bleed was arranged (i.e. injections of cold make-up water and drainage into the primary coolant purification system), but before personnel managed to restart core cooling system, temperature of primary coolant had reached 82 deg. C, that was a violation of operational limits (reactor outlet water temperature should not exceed 70 deg. C). The event investigation is in progress, but the incident root cause has not been revealed yet. Justification: Off-site and on-site impact criteria are not appropriate for the event rating. The event is rated under the degradation of defence in depth criterion. According to para: III-3.1.1. "degradation of reactor core cooling" of the user's manual, the event is provisionally rated at level 1. The final rating and additional factors will be considered after investigations have been completed.
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 […]
Jan vd Putte quickly changed from dressing as the pied piper at the protest during the IAEA nuclear power conference to warn for the Russian nuclear power conglomerate Rosatom and its role in Ukraine.
