At 13.02 hours on May 14, 1995 an instrumented liquid relief valve on the primary coolant system opened spuriously due to a failed diaphragm, discharging coolant to the bleed condenser. This resulted in a reactor trip by shutdown system 1 on low pressurizer level. When the bleed condenser filled, its two relief valves opened, discharging approximately 25Mg of reactor coolant onto the containment floor. A station emergency - category 1 was declared and station accounting was initiated. A coolant recovery pump was placed in service and contaiment manually buttoned-up. Reactor building containment pressure was reduced by manually opening auxiliary pressure regulating valves to the vacuum building. By 15:58, in-pant survey indicated that there was no particulate detectd, no stack alarms and no elevated radiation field. At 16:07 the situation was reduced to a unit alert. Off-site surveys confirmed that there was no increased radiological release to the environment. Tests confirmed that there were no fuel failures as a result of this incident. The unit has been cooled down and placed into a guaranteed shutdown state. Investigation into the cause of the liquid relief valve diaphragm failure has commenced.
Using INES Manual Table II, this incident is treated at INES level 1, on degradation of defence-in-depth. The initiator ("expected" frequency) was "reactor coolant leakage" that would no prevent a controlled reactor shutdown and cooldown". Safety function availability was "within operational limits and conditions".
The Pacific News Bulletin (since September 1986) and its predecessor Pacific Bulletin was published for the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific (NFIP) Movement by the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre (PCRC), first based in Petersham (Australia) and later at Suva on the Fiji Islands. The NFIP movement grew out of the first regional Nuclear Free Pacific […]
On 29 June 2026, the Urenco Group issued a statement announcing that the UK Government formally requested the company to support its effort "to re-establish a nuclear fuel cycle for reactor fuel for defence purposes." The UK Government announced its intent to re-establish this program in November 2024. This announcement is part of a broader […]
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 […]
