The Krsko NPP was safely shut down on 4 June 2008 at 8:10 p.m. (local time), after a primary circuit leak was detected at 3:07 p.m. on the same day. The leak of about 3 m3/h has exceeded the limit of the plant Technical specifications and required the plant to shut down. The event was classified as an unusual event. There was no demand on the safety systems. The loss of coolant was controlled by the charging flow. There was no need for off-site protective measures since there were no releases to the environment. The shut down was performed in a controlled way by following the general operating procedures. The exact location of the leak was determined on 6 June early in the morning. The stem seal of the isolation valve 8067 B of the RTD manifold on the hot leg loop 2 was found to be leaking. In order to repair the leakage, the plant needed to be brought into a cold shutdown mode and the primary coolant level decreased to cold leg + 50 to 60 cm. Plant personnel performed replacement of the complete tandem of valves 8063 B and 8067 B. After successful inspection of all the RTD manifold valves the plant was on 8 June 2008 afternoon ready for start-up. The further steps to power operation are pending the SNSA regulatory inspection results.
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 […]