ST. PETERSBURG, January 6. /TASS/. Malfunctions at one of the units of the Leningrad nuclear plant had no adverse impacts on radiation safety, spokesman for the nuclear plant Andrei Alberti told TASS on Tuesday.
“The incident was related to electrical equipment that is placed several hundred metres away from the reactor. The radiation level at the station is within natural background limits,” he said.
The incident at the plant’s unit one was reported on January 4. Emergency shutdown controls were activated when the shell of one of the unit’s two transformers was damaged. The transformer was switched off. The plant’s capacity went down by 300 megawatts.
“It will have no impact on consumers,” Alberti said.
The Leningrad nuclear plant is located on the coast of the Gulf of Finland some 35 kilometres of St. Petersburg’s suburbs and 70 kilometres away from the city’s centre.
ГСЧС Украины подтвердила утечку радиации на Запорожской АЭС
Официальные сводки свидетельствуют о том, что пресс-служба ЗАЭС скрывает правду об аварии в 6-м энергоблоке.
Украинские атомщики дезинформировали общественность и СМИ о реальном положении дел на Запорожской АЭС. В Интернет попали сводки Государственной службы по чрезвычайным ситуациям за 28 и 29 декабря, которые опровергают заверения руководства ЗАЭС о том, что шестой энергоблок был введен в строй уже вечером 28 декабря. Кроме того, допустимый уровень излучения на АЭС, согласно замерам, оказался выше нормы в 16 раз.
Radioactive leak at major Ukrainian nuclear plant – report
Published time: December 30, 2014 18:21 Edited time: January 01, 2015 09:18
A radioactive leak has been detected at Ukraine’s Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe, a media report says, citing the country’s emergency services. Ukrainian officials have denied the report.
LifeNews published what it claims is a leaked report by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, which denies an earlier assessment by the plant’s authorities that the radiation at the facility is equal to the natural background following an incident on Sunday.
Ukrainian authorities have denied the Russian media report that a radioactive leak had taken place at the plant, Reuters reported.
"The plant works normally, there have been no accidents," an energy ministry official told the news agency. No official comment on whether the leaked documents are authentic has been provided.
Two documents released by LifeNews appear to show that the plant's officials put deliberately misleading information on their website. The documents – both addressed to the head of the regional emergency services – state that radiation levels at the plant on Sunday and Monday were 16.8 times higher than the legally permitted norm.
By Monday, the levels had slightly increased – growing from 16.3 to 16.8 times higher, and Unit 6 was still shut down, the report said, contradicting the plant's statements that the problem had been fixed and that the plant was operating normally.
On Sunday, one reactor at the plant was automatically shut down after a glitch, becoming the second halt in operations in recent weeks. The reactor was running at 40 percent of nominal power, the plant's official website said, adding that radiation at the facility being at the level of 8-12 microroentgens an hour.
The error was later announced to have been corrected, and the troubled unit – Power Block # 6 – was plugged back into the network.
On November 28, Zaporozhye's Unit 3 was switched off for almost a week. The shutdown, which was reportedly caused by a short circuit, was made public five days later, when Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk revealed it during the first meeting of his new Cabinet.
Regarding the November incident, Ukrainian authorities have contacted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The agency was informed that "a reactor at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant remained safely shut down following a short circuit in the plant’s transformer yard last week," its December 3 statement said.
Ukraine’s State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate has said no radioactive materials were released because of the shutdown, the IAEA added. The incident was preliminarily estimated to be a level 0-rated event on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, which ranges from 0 to 7.
Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is one of the four nuclear power plants in the country, which together supply a large part of Ukraine's energy needs. The Zaporozhyeplant alone, Europe's largest, supplies at least one-fifth of the country’s power needs. It is the world’s fifth-largest nuclear power plant.
In the meantime US nuclear power-plant builder Westinghouse Electric Co. has reached a deal with Ukraine's Energoatom in Brussels to provide fuel to Ukraine to lower Kiev's dependency for supplies from Russia.
The US company says it will “significantly” increase fuel deliveries to Ukrainian nuclear power plants through 2020, according to a statement released Tuesday.
“This increased cooperation between Westinghouse and Energoatom will bring diversification and security of nuclear fuel supplies for Ukraine’s reactor fleet,” the statement reads.
Westinghouse, which has been operating in Ukraine since 2003, says that under terms of the contract, the US firm will employ its global supply chain to “manufacture the fuel and components making use of its facilities in the US and Europe.” No other details were provided.
“Westinghouse looks forward to providing a full range of products and services to Ukraine and the global VVER market with proven experience in digital controls, fuel, refueling, inspection services and plant upgrades and refurbishments,” said Yves Brachet, Westinghouse president for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
About 44 percent of power in Ukraine is generated from nuclear facilities, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Earlier this year, Kiev has agreed to extend Westinghouse existing cooperation agreement until 2020.
The media report indicated that on December 29 the radiation level at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant was estimated at 0.00505 mSv/yr. According to the World Nuclear Associationa typical range of dose rates from medical sources of radiation is 0.3-0.6 mSv/yr. In order to develop radiation sickness, a one-time dose of at least 1,000 to 2,000 mSv would be enough. Meanwhile, between 2,000 and 10,000 mSv in a short-term dose would cause severe radiation sickness with increasing likelihood that this would be fatal.
Accident at largest nuclear power plant in Europe revealed by Ukraine PM
Published time: December 03, 2014 11:15 Edited time: December 03, 2014 14:22
There has been an accident at a nuclear plant in the southeast of Ukraine, Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk has revealed during the first session of his new Cabinet.
A minor accident occurred at Zaporozhskaya nuclear plant, the largest in Europe, last Friday, according to the facility’s website. A reactor was switched off and put to maintenance as a result.
The incident was not made public until Wednesday, when PM Yatsenyuk asked the energy minister to report on what happened and how the ministry is handling the situation.
Ukraine's energy minister, Vladimir Demchyshyn, said that the accident posed no risk.
"There is no threat ... there are no problems with the reactors," Demchyshyn said at briefing, adding the accident affected the power output system and "in no way" was linked to power production itself.
Demchyshyn said that the reactor would be restarted December 5.
The accident left several dozen towns and villages without electricity, Russian media reported, citing local officials.
Four more reactors at the plant remain operational, according to the facility’s website. One is undergoing planned repairs.
Zaporozhskaya first reactor came on line in November 1984. Within the course of the next 10 years, five more reactors were brought into operation. The plant currently produces one-fifth of Ukraine’s electricity.
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told Reuters it had no comment to make on the Zaporoshskaya accident so far.
An international convention, adopted after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, obliges countries to notify the IAEA of any nuclear accident that can affect other countries.
On verge of energy crisis
The accident at Zaporozhskaya nuclear plant has contributed to the energy shortage Ukraine is currently witnessing, as its fossil power plants are running out of coal.
National energy company Ukrenergo has recently launched emergency power cuts all over the country to help sustain energy. The company reported that current coal stockpiles in the east are only enough for four more days.
The Ukrainian energy minister has announced the country’s consumers could experience two-hour blackouts. He has though admitted he would prefer Ukrainian enterprises to voluntarily limit their energy consumption and to switch to night production, if that is possible.
“We will try to do our best to smoothen the schedule of energy use,” Demchyshyn said.
Dozens of coalmines have been closed in the Donetsk and the Lugansk Regions due to continued fighting between Kiev troops and anti-government forces there.
Demchyshyn has acknowledged the country needs to start buying energy from Russia.
“I know negotiations are under way on the import of energy,” he said. “I am certain that... this is a necessary step. However difficult it might be politically, this is a necessary step.”
28 ноября в 19 часов 24 минуты действием электрической защиты энергоблок № 3 Запорожской АЭС отключен от сети и выведен в текущий ремонт до 5 декабря 2014 года. Нарушений пределов и норм безопасности не было. Радиационная обстановка в зоне расположения ЗАЭС без изменений. По состоянию на 29 ноября на Запорожской АЭС в работе находится 4 энергоблока. С четким следованием графику выполняется плановый средний ремонт энергоблока №1, ведутся работы по реконструкции и модернизации. Замечаний к работе основного оборудования действующих энергоблоков нет. Суммарная мощность генераторов составляет 4010 МВт. Запорожская АЭС - важная составляющая топливно-энергетического комплекса Украины, заслуженно занимает одно из ведущих мест в электроэнергетике нашей страны.
The IAEA today contacted Ukrainian authorities who informed the Agency that a reactor at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant remained safely shut down following a short circuit in the plant’s transformer yard last week.
Ukraine’s State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate informed the IAEA that a short circuit occurred at a voltage transformer yard at the plant on 28 November 2014, causing Unit 3 to automatically shut down. The IAEA contacted the Inspectorate following media reports of a purported accident.
The Inspectorate said no radioactive materials had been released because of the shutdown. It preliminarily estimated the event to be a level 0-rated event on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale. The scale ranges from 0 to 7, with level 0 used for situations that have no safety significance.
Automatic shutdowns occasionally occur at nuclear power plants due to various reasons including problems in transformer yards or generators, which are external to reactor buildings.
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