11 November 2003 16:45
Probe launched into malfunction at South Russia nuclear plant
A commission of the Rosenergoatom concern has started work to investigate into the stall of Volgodonsk's nuclear power plant, the Information and Analysis Centre of the plant reported on Tuesday. The commission is looking into the causes of the reactor's halt, and working out measures to settle the matter and avert similar emergencies in the future, the centre's director Viktor Bashkatov said. According to Bashkatov, background radiation inside the plant and within the 30-km zone around it is normal. Preliminarily, the reason is that an automatic protection system in the electrical unit of the plant snapped into action, which is not directly connected with the reactor, Bashkatov elaborated.
The reactor of the Volgodonsk nuclear power plant stalled on November 7th, after a short circuit in the high-voltage power transmission line the plant feeds. As it is impossible to supply energy to nowhere, the plant stalled, a spokesman for Rosenergoatom said today. The unscheduled outage was used to "inspect the generator, which revealed some minor defects". It will take 10 days to rectify these, Rosenergoatom reports.
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