Unit was operating at 170 MWe with the shut down loops isolated from the reactor inlet and outlet headers and communicated to the bleed condenser to maintain the pressure at 20 kg/cm2 in the shut down loops. On the event date, one of the isolation valves for the north shut down loop had overtravelled resulting in passing of heat transport system water from the north reactor outlet header to the shut down loop and further to the bleed condenser. The bleed condenser high level led to reactor set back. The passing of the isolation valve coupled with the initiation of reactor set back (which caused shrinkage of the heat transport system) resulted in the coolant system pressure to drop and cause reactor trip on low pressure in Primary Heat Transport System. The overtravel of the shut down cooling loop valves was due to suspected inadvertent operation of the relay while working on another relay mounted adjacent to it. The event can be rated as level '0' under A-1R of the INES user's 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 […]