Reactor shutdown at Kola NPP
Reactor No. 3 at Kola nuclear power plant was automatically shut down on Tuesday after a malfunction in one of the elements in the system responsible for pressure control in the first compartment.
The Kola nuclear power plant (Kola NPP) says in a press-release posted at their website that the cause of the problem under investigation.
The environmental group Bellona says the triggering of emergency shut down systems is always considered to be a serious incident. However, Kola NPP says the incident has been preliminarily classified as a zero on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES).
According to Bellona’s nuclear safety specialist Aleksandr Nikitin, the No. 3 reactor’s system of pressure compensation is designed to maintain high pressures in the reactor’s first compartment. In the case of a malfunction in the compensation system, pressure will fall or rise in the first compartment, triggering an automatic emergency shut down.
- The pressure compensation system is one of the most important systems that guarantees the safe functioning of the reactor, says Nikitin in a comment posted on the environmental groups’s web site.
- That this system malfunctioned, and that the redundant system failed, point only to the fact that the elemental base of the automatic systems at Kola NPP is not very reliable, says Nikitin.
Kola NPP underlines that Tuesday’s incident was not essential for the plant safety and personnel.
Read also: Norway wants Kola NPP reactors closed
The same day as the incident happened, September 28th, marks the day of nuclear workers in Russia. Speaking to his employees marking the nuclear workers day, director of Kola NPP, V. Omelchuk, said the main challenge is safety, according to another press-release posted on the Kola nuclear power plant on Tuesday.
- Of all the factors in our operation, safety is the most important priority, Omelchuk said.
The director continued with pointing to the fact that today Kola nuclear power plant meets all current safety requirements.
In a special ceremony Tuesday evening marking the nuclear workers day, more than 60 employees of the Kola nuclear power plant were awarded marks of distinction and other industry awards.
In January this year, a five meter high oil voltage transformer exploded at the Kola Nuclear Power Plant during a hurricane, leaving northern parts of the Kola Peninsula without power.
Kola nuclear power plant is located near the city of Polyarny Zori in the southern part of the Kola Peninsula. The plant operates four press-water reactors, commissioned in the 70ties and 80ties.
Environmentalists claims the two oldest reactors should be closed down due to bad safety standards. Norway and other European countries have since the 90ties cooperated with Kola nuclear power plant on improving the safety.
