Units, 1,5,6,7 & 8 at the Pickering Nuclear Generating were shut down in an orderly manner on April 20 & 21, to allow repairs to an emergency coolant injection system (ECIS) check valve (units 2,3 &4 were already shut down for maintenance). During testing the position of one of two parallel redundant check valves between the ECIS storage tank and the ECIS pump suction header could not be verified. The check valves are required to reseat to prevent loss of inventory and flow of contaminated water to the storage tank during the ECIS recovery phase. The back up motorized valve to prevent this is tested once every 10 years, during a planned 8-unit outage as its closure results in a total impairment of the ECIS function. The MV tested satisfactorily on shutdown. The check valves cannot be isolated, so a station outage for 8 - 10 days was taken for their repair. The failure constitutes a loss of redundancy of ECIS function. Continued operation is allowed but station policy is to suspend reactor fuelling for impairments where no safety function redundancy remains for response to a fuelling-induced (small) LOCA. Lack of fuelling would have forced shutdown in the near future anyway. When the NV opened the position indicating rod was found bent, causing the NV to be stuck in the partially open position. The position indicating mechanisms have been removed from both NVs to eliminate this failure mechanism and a new testing procedure developed. This event is rated at level 1 on "degradation of defence in depth" without an initiator for a "possible" initiator (small LOCA) with "adequate" safety function.
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.