During periodic testing of the diesel generators automatic load sequence, it was discovered that the 380V safety related equipments were not energized as expected. The reason for that failure is that a protection relay had an unexpected high voltage trip value that was not appropriately adjusted. The setpoint was too low so that, when the diesel generator was supplying the 380 V board, the protection tripped on high voltage de-energizing power supply to safety related equipments. At the same time, it was discovered that the low voltage setpoint was not adjusted as by the design specification and that it was not possible to reach the right value due to construction features of the protection relay. Some of these safety related 380 V boards were replaced during the last plant outage in April 2005 and all the new boards had the same problem, having the same inadequate protection relay. The consequence was that some of the safety related equipments were not available in two out of three safety related trains in case of loss of off-site power supply. The same problem was also present in one train of the second level protection systems (plant protection against external events). After identification of the problem the License immediately re-adjusted the high voltage setpoint to a higher value. The adjustment of the low voltage setpoint is under investigation.
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, […]
