On 22/06/2001 at 11:21 fire alarm signal was annunciated on unit 2, from the three reactor building cable rooms A110/2, A018/2 and A019/2. Immediate actions were taken to inspect the rooms. Meanwhile failure signals were received from some affected busses and at 11:34 RCP 6 tripped. At 11:35 fire fighting was commenced with the installed fire water system. At 11:40 unit power reduction was started, at 11:50 the turbines were tripped. Due to failure on temperature measuring circuits of the bearing of RCPs 2 and 4, these pumps were stopped. Since the values of RCP 1 and 4 seal flow parameters became non-real this emergency command signal was blocked. At 11:48 the fire alarm ceased therefore the fire extinguishing system was shut down and the site inspection was commenced. At 12:25 the reactor was at minimum controlled power level, after that boron injection into the primary circuit was started. The site inspection revealed that fire occurred in the vertical cable shaft A110/2, at elevation of 14 m. After having extinguished the fire completely personnel proceeded to take up the list of and inspect the deenergized equipment. The fire led to loss of power of the valves on make-up water header TK52 and on leg TE01 of the reactor water purification system as well as to loss of position indication of some of the Y safety system isolation valves. Several process parameter measuring circuits failed or non-real values were indicated.
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 […]