Rostekhnadzor Registers Two Minor Events at Nuclear Plants in November

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Dec 5 (Interfax) - Russia's Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Oversight (Rostekhnadzor) registered two minor events at nuclear power plants in November 2008.

On November 12, Balakovskaya NPP's power unit N2 switched off without activation of the emergency system, the agency said in a press release. Rostekhnadzor has already completed an investigation of this incident. The discharge occurred as a result of a switch- off of the primary circulatory pumps, caused by the loss of a pressure signal in the lubrication system's oil pumps, the agency said.

The event was outside the scope of the INES classification.

Another event on November 12 occurred at the Novovoronezhskaya NPP when its power unit N4 switched off because of the activation of the emergency protection system. The incident investigation has also been completed: the emergency system activated because of the untimely adjustment of the measurements in the neutron flux monitoring channels.

The incident was a zero-level event by INES classification.

All Russian nuclear power plants (ten NPPs with 31 power units) are operated by Energoatom.

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