NUCLEAR THREAT TO EUROPE
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21
February, 2016
On
the 20th February, the third unit of South-Ukrainian Nuclear
Power Station was disconnected from the grid, the Press service of
the Ukrainian State Enterprise “Energoatom” reported.
“February,
20th, at 05:45 unit
number 3 of the South Ukrainian Nuclear Power Station was
disconnected again from the grid due to increased coolant level in
the steam generator because of the failure of a level control. First
and second nuclear power station’s units are operating in the
design mode”, the power company said.
This
is not the first serious failure of this nuclear power station.
Currently, the responsibility for the station’s safety lies on the
US, as a matter of fact.
Under
a US-Ukrainian initiative to reduce Ukraine’s dependency on Russia
for fuel, “Energoatom” had been using reactor core of unit 3 to
test nuclear fuel produced by Westinghouse Electric Company in
Västerås in Sweden. In August 2005, it was loaded with the first
six experimental fuel assemblies produced by Westinghouse together
with Russian fuel for a period of pilot operation. The pilot runs
were “deemed unsuccessful, with “Energoatom” claiming
manufacturing defects in the fuel led to a lengthy unscheduled outage
at two of the units, while Westinghouse said that errors had been
made during fuel loading.” Nevertheless, in 2008 Ukrainian
“Energoatom” signed a fuel supply contract with Westinghouse to
supply 630 nuclear fuel assemblies to its three reactors starting in
2011.
Westinghouse shipped a reload batch of 42 fuel assemblies for
the 3 units in mid-2009 to last for three years of commercial
operation. In June 2010, “Energoatom” signed a long-term fuel
supply contract with Russia’s TVEL for its nuclear reactor fleet.
Earlier, Rosatom had offered a substantial discount to Ukraine if it
signed up with TVEL for 20 years. In 2013, following major upgrade
work, unit 1 was given a 10-year license extension, which will take
it beyond its original 30-year design lifetime. Similar extensions
are planned for units 2 and 3, licensed until 2015 and 2019,
respectively.
On
11 April 2014, after the Russian “annexation” of Crimea, the fuel
contract with Westinghouse was extended through 2020. The fuel will
be made at the fuel fabrication facility in Västerås.
By
now the complete devastation has been seen in the Ukrainian nuclear
industry. At the same time basic safety aspects are ignored under the
influence of political factors. The threat of nuclear disaster is
increasing every day.
Experts
believe that forthcoming accidents in the South Ukrainian Nuclear
Power Station could surpass the Chernobyl Disaster and a half of the
European Union’s territory is at risk of nuclear pollution.
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