On October 9, 1997, Limerick 2 experienced a fire in the exhaust stack of the D21 emergency diesel generator (EDG) during an operability test. The unit was operating at 100% power at the time of this event. During the test run, the #4 cylinder lower piston seized, resulting in damage to the piston, connecting rod and cylinder liner. The fire occurred due to the release of unburnt fuel into the EDG exhaust manifold and exhaust stack. The fire burned out when the EDG was secured. A second, smaller, fire occurred on the body of the EDG in the vicinity of the exhaust manifold. This fire was extinguished within two minutes using a portable fire extinguisher. After the failure of the EDG, the licensee performed test runs of the three remaining unit 2 EDGs to ensure operability. Assuming a complete loss of offsite power and the failure of one EDG, the other EDGs have sufficient capacity to operate all necessary equipment in the event of a design basis accident on one unit and an emergency shutdown of the other unit. Justification: Using Part III-2.4.1 of the INES User's Manual , this event is rated at level zero/below scale. The failure of the EDG was discovered as a result of a routine surveillance program. Despite the failure of this EDG, the safety function (cooling the radioactive material) remained above the minimum required b y plant operational limits and conditions. Since there was no initiator, the use of Table I in Part III and the resulting rating of level zero are appropriate.
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 […]
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, […]