One pipe of the feedwater system of Loviisa 1 broke. The ruptured tube was situated in the turbine hall of the unit. Water and steam flew into the turbine hall. The operation of the Unit was stopped by a manual reactor scram immediately after trip of all feedwater pumps. Both auxiliary feedwater pumps started as planned and the transient in the steam generator level was small. The leak was isolated in about twenty minutes. The local damages to nearby cables and smaller pipelines were significant but no important functions were lost besides the main feedwater system. The leaked water and steam did not include radioactive nuclides. The incident did not endanger the radiation safety at the plant or the environment, and no persons were injured. Investigations have indicated that the wall thickness of the ruptured pipe has been decreased due to erosion corrosion. Also in other four feedwater pipelines at the unit no. 1 as well as in four corresponding lines at the unit no. 2, the erosion corrosion had caused some decrease in the wall thickness. BASIS FOR RATING: Initiator: loss of feed water flow (expected). Safety function availability: full. Real. This justifies level 0 or 1. The event revealed some deficiencies in thesurveillance program, thus 1 (preliminary) is selected instead of 0. DIFFICULTIES IN RATING:
The Netherlands has agreed to allow Urenco to be used for the British military nuclear program. This clears the way for uranium enriched by Urenco to be used in nuclear weapons. With his decision, Foreign Minister Berendsen (CDA Christen Democrats) is departing from the principle that civilian and military nuclear applications must remain strictly separate. […]
Behnam Raeesian is an internationally recognized visual artist and poster designer from Iran, known for bold political and cultural works. Through exhibitions, workshops, jury roles, and collaborations with cultural institutions worldwide, he has built a strong voice in contemporary political graphic design. His projects confront complex issues such as nuclear risk and technological impact, transforming […]
Everywhere you look, the nuclear industry’s hype machine is in overdrive. Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and the UK government all tout small modular reactors as the silver bullet for climate change and energy security. Tech billionaires are hiring nuclear veterans. Wall Street is whispering about “round-the-clock power” for artificial intelligence data centers. For those old enough […]
Kernenergie en veiligheid: A wargame sought to test if a major radiological release that would prompt the evacuation of millions of civilians in South Korea could distract key US allies from assisting and rebuffing an all-out military invasion of Taiwan. The short answer was yes. The game originally presumed that China, wanting to keep the […]
Big batteries and EVs to the rescue again as faults with new nuclear plant cause chaos on Nordic grids The Finnish nuclear power plant Olkiluoto was finally connected to the grid last year, at an estimated cost of €11 billion compared to the original budget of €3 billion. That cost blowout forced its developer, the […]
