MADRID, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Spain's 1,000-MW Almaraz I nuclear power station was automatically shut down late on Wednesday after the protection system was triggered by a pressure drop in the reactor, the Nuclear Security Council reported.
The cause of the pressure drop has been identified and, for the moment, the plant remains offline and secure, the regulator said.
The nuclear plan decided to shut down ahead of new taxes included in a government energy reform that would render the plant unviable.
Spain's oldest nuclear plant Garoña is shutting down on Sunday ahead of new taxes included in a government energy reform that would render the plant unviable.
Dominion's four Virginia nuclear units have reactor pressure vessels made by the same manufacturer that supplied a Belgian reactor shut down because of possible vessel cracking, a Dominion spokesman said Friday.
Dominion is following developments in Belgium, but has not been notified by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission of any information related to the incident, Richard Zuercher said.
The discovery of possible cracks in a Belgian nuclear reactor should trigger urgent testing around the EU, but such decisions are for national governments to take, a European Commission spokeswoman said on Thursday.
"National authorities will conduct tests, that seems obvious," said Marlene Holzner, spokeswoman for EU energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger. "The European Commission can make recommendations, but it can't make them binding," she stressed.
The representatives of the 16 EU countries that have opted for nuclear energy have identified the four 'pillars' on which the EU's energy policy must be built: safety of sourcing, consumer purchasing power, industrial competitiveness and the fight against global warming.
Spain's new government will ask nuclear regulators for advice on the continued operation of the Garoña nuclear power plant, which was dealt an arbitrarily short operating licence by the previous administration.
Yesterday the Spanish cabinet revoked an order from 2009 that set July 2013 as the latest time that Garoña may be used for power generation. The next step is for the Nuclear Safety Council (Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear, CSN) to consider the technical possibilities for longer operation and what technical improvements it may require. The Spanish government is expected to order this work imminently.
Planned stress tests on European nuclear plants should focus on threats from natural disasters and exclude potential man-made catastrophes such as a terrorist attack, European atomic industry group Foratom said.
European nuclear officials are to decide today on parameters for the safety checks on atomic power plants in response to the Japanese nuclear crisis caused by a March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The meeting of the European Commission, the EU regulator, and 27 national nuclear safety authorities comes a day after Spain’s biggest earthquake in 57 years killed eight people.
The European Commission will table a legislative proposal on the treatment of radioactive waste before the end of the year, commission president José Manuel Barroso told a conference on nuclear energy in Paris on Monday.
Energy commissioner Günther Oettinger hinted at legislation on nuclear waste management at a European Parliament hearing in January. He said setting the "highest possible" safety standards for disposal would be a priority. "Further costs cannot be a consideration," he warned.
MADRID - Spain's top energy official said on Monday the country had enough spare generating capacity to phase out nuclear power stations in the medium term, in line with government policy.
In recent years, Spain has subsidized renewable energy in order to cut its heavy dependence on fuel imports and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is now the world's third-biggest producer of wind power and the second-biggest of solar.
High winds over the weekend supplied 53% of Spain's electricity – equivalent to the power output of 11 nuclear plants
