Unit 4 was operating at nominal power and one of the three safety systems was inoperable due to scheduled maintenance activities. This condition was in accordance with relating procedures of the Operating Technical Specifications. On July 14, 1994 at 11:05 the personnel noticed that suction leg of a high pressure pump of another safety system is connected instead of the high concentration boric acid tank to the tank of low concentration boric acid. This is an anomaly as in this condition the pump can't fulfill its whole planned function and therefore it has to be considered inoperable. Based on the preliminary statements this condition had been existing since July 14, 1994, 01:19. Thus two high-pressure ECCS pumps were inoperable for almost 10 hours which is a violation of the Operating Technical Specifications. The anomaly was eliminated after its detection immediately.
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 […]