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INES and the disturbances in nuclear facilities
2000 – 2009
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INES, Who the f... is INES?
The International Scale of Nuclear and Radiological Events (INES) is a tool to educate the public about the safety implications of nuclear and radiological events, but INES has a problem...
We are always looking for up-to-date information. Anyone who can help, please send a message to:
nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de
*
2019-2010 | 2009-2000 | 1999-1990 | 1989-1980 | 1979-1970 | 1969-1960 | 1959-1950 | 1949-1940 | Before
2009
December 27, 2009 (INES-1) NPP Fessenheim, FRA
Plant debris entered the cooling system when the reactor was started up…
(Costs ?)
Nuclear Power Accident
Wikipedia
Fessenheim nuclear power plant
Operational disruptions
Since the nuclear power plant went into operation, there have been over 1989 incidents between 2008 and 200 that would have had to be reported according to the German Radiation Protection Ordinance...
On December 27, 2009, the second reactor of the nuclear power plant was temporarily shut down because of plant residues in the cooling circuit. The electricity company EDF said it was still unclear when the reactor would be restarted. The French nuclear regulator classified the incident at the plant as INES 1. The reactor, which was taken offline for maintenance work on December 26th, was supposed to have resumed operation at around 27 a.m. on December 6th. According to EDF, plant debris got into the cooling circuit when a water pump was restarted when the reactor was about to be started up. This affected the performance of the system...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Fessenheim (France)
A total of 16 level 1 incidents have been reported from Fessenheim since 2010.
The final shutdown of Fessenheim-1 began on 21 February 2020 at 20.30:22 and was completed on 2020 February 2 at approximately 00:2. Fessenheim-30 was taken off the grid permanently on 2020 June 23 at 00:2023. The fuel elements are to be removed by 2025; dismantling is scheduled to take place from 2040 to XNUMX.
December 2, 2009 (INES-2) NPP Cruas, FRA
Vegetation blocked the inlet of the cooling system, the system had to be shut down and repaired.
(Cost approx. US$ 4 million)
Nuclear Power Accidents
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Cruas (France)
During the night of December 1-2, 2009, one of the Cruas reactors had to be shut down due to problems in the main cooling system. The cause was that a water pipe was blocked by debris washed up by the Rhône. The cooling system was working again the next morning. The incident was classified as an INES level 2 incident.
Wikipedia fr
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Centrale nucleaire de Cruas
On December 2, in Unit 4 of Cruas NPP, leaves and other fall debris accumulated in the river cooling water circuit and clogged it. The reactor was shut down and switched to hot standby with the flow-independent emergency power supply via the steam generators. However, even after this process, the reactor core must be further cooled with the river cooling water - because of the ongoing decay - in the so-called after-cooling mode, so that it does not overheat and melt ...
Aug 9, 2009 (INES-1 Class.?) NPP Gravelines, FRA
The fuel assembly system failed to properly eject the spent fuel rods from the Gravelines nuclear plant, resulting in the fuel rods becoming stuck and the reactor shutting down.
(Cost approx. US$ 2 million)
Nuclear Power Accidents
Slowly but surely, relevant infos about incidents in the nuclear industry is being removed from Wikipedia!
Wikipedia
Gravelines nuclear power plant
The Gravelines nuclear power plant consists of six pressurized water reactors of the same type, each with a net output of 910 MW. It is operated by the French company Électricité de France (EDF). Water from the English Channel, on whose coast the nuclear power plant is located, is used for cooling...
Wikipedia
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Gravelines Nuclear Power Station
In August 2009, during the annual refueling in Reactor 1, a fuel assembly caught on the upper handling structure, halting operations and prompting the evacuation and isolation of the reactor building...
Nuclear power accidents by country#France
The fuel assembly system did not properly eject the spent fuel rods from the Gravelines nuclear power plant, causing the fuel rods to become jammed and forcing the reprocessing process to be interrupted.
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Gravelines (France)
On August 11, 2009, an unspecified malfunction occurred during a fuel transport at Gravelines-1.
June 10, 2009 (INES-2) Nuclear factory Cadarache, FRA
Underestimated plutonium deposits in the plant's glove boxes, plant operations were suspended for a month. Instead of the estimated 8 kg of plutonium, 39 kg were found.
(Costs ?)
Nuclear Power Accidents
Dismantling of the production plant for MOX fuel elements
In June, 39 kilograms of plutonium were discovered during dismantling work at the French nuclear facility Cadarache. The Atomic Safety Agency ASN stopped the work on October 15, 2009 and classified the incident in INES category 2 “major incident”. She also accused the operator of not reporting the June event until October...
Wikipedia
Cadarache - ATPu production plant - dismantling
After the end of use as a production plant for MOX fuel elements in 2003, it was decided to dismantle this part of the plant. Demolition work began in February 2009. In October 2009, work on the plant had to be temporarily stopped by order of the French nuclear safety authority, as a total of 39 kg of plutonium dust was unexpectedly found in the glove boxes...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Cadarache (France)
The Center de Cadarache is located on the so-called Durance fault, a geological fault zone where strong to devastating earthquakes have repeatedly occurred every 100 years, most recently in 1913. Most of the facilities in Cadarache are therefore considered by French seismologists to pose a radiation risk viewed the region.
[...] On October 6, 2009, the operator of the ATPu plutonium plant reported an unexpected additional 39 kilograms of plutonium in a sealed container to the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). This plant had produced MOX for 40 years and was already undergoing decommissioning at that time. The operator had apparently discovered the additional plutonium as early as June 2009 but concealed it for months. The incident was classified as a significant deficiency in the operator's safety "culture" and as a Level 2 incident on the seven-level INES scale.
There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:
Sites for uranium enrichment and reprocessing
During reprocessing, the inventory of spent fuel elements can be separated from one another in a complex chemical process (PUREX). Separated uranium and plutonium can then be reused. As far as the theory...
25 May 2009 (2nd atomic bomb test, North Korea) Punggye-ri, PRK
Since 1945, over 2050 nuclear weapons tests have been carried out worldwide, which could be a possible explanation for the steadily increasing number of cancer cases.
IPPNW Report - August 2023 - Nuclear Weapons Tests - (PDF file)
... Aboveground tests were conducted at several Atolls in the Pacific Ocean in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, on traditional land of the Western Shoshone in Nevada, USA, on Aboriginal land in Australian Outback, on the land of the indigenous Nenetz in the Russian Arctic, in the territory of nomads in the Algerian Sahara, in Uighur region in China and elsewhere. Residents were often evacuated late or not at all, and were not informed about the effects of the tests. Radioactive fallout fell as dust and rain, contaminating drinking water and locally produced food...
Wikipedia
North Korean nuclear weapons program
Nuclear weapons test in 2009
According to its own statements, North Korea launched a launch vehicle with the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-5 communications satellite on April 2009, 2, despite international protests. The UN Security Council condemned the missile launch on April 13, 2009. In protest against this, the North Korean Foreign Ministry declared on April 14, 2009 the end of the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear weapons program and its consistent continuation.
On May 25, 2009, another nuclear test was carried out. According to Russian sources, the explosive device had an explosive force of 20 kilotons. In addition to the nuclear test, several short-range missiles were fired...
Punggye-ri (Proving Grounds)
List of nuclear weapons tests
Chronological, incomplete list of nuclear weapons tests. The table contains only significant points in the history of the detonation of an atomic bomb for test purposes...
Atomwaffen A - Z
North Korea
“De facto” nuclear weapons state | “De Facto” Nuclear Weapon State
North Korea signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1985 after US intelligence discovered a classified reactor capable of producing plutonium. The North Korean government refused until 1992 to allow full control by the Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). During subsequent inspections, the IAEA found that there was a discrepancy between North Korea's reported amount of reprocessed plutonium and its own measurements. The IAEA suspected more plutonium was being reprocessed for a nuclear weapons program, totaling over 20 kilograms - enough for three small warheads. Tensions between the US and North Korea over nuclear weapons led to a crisis in the spring of 1994 that nearly culminated in war...
Punggye-ri
Nuclear test site, North Korea
All of North Korea's six previous nuclear tests (2006-2017) were conducted at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site (also known as Hwaderi). The facility is located in the mountains north of Hamgyeong Province in the northeast of the country under Mount Mantap. At the end of April 2018, North Korea decommissioned the nuclear test site and detonated significant parts in front of gathered press on May 24, 2018, following a summit agreement with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to promote peace between the two parts of Korea...
Nuclear weapon states
There are nine nuclear weapons states, but only five are "recognized." The United States, Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom - the states that also have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council - are named as "nuclear weapons states" in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty because they exploded nuclear weapons before 1957. However, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea also possess nuclear weapons, although Israel does not admit to having them, and are therefore not members of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty...
2008
September 5, 2008 (INES Class.?) NPP Asco, ESP
The release of radioactive radiation into the environment means INES-3 ...
The incidents from 2008 are in the Contribution to Ascó Nuclear Power Plant at Wikipedia can no longer be found and the link to the source of the information has also been deleted.
Wikipedia
Ascó Nuclear Power Plant
The Ascó nuclear power plant is located in eastern Spain, directly on the Ebro River, north of the municipality of Ascó near Tarragona. The power plant consists of two pressurized water reactors from the US company Westinghouse Electric...
List of accidents in European nuclear facilities
Between 5 September 2008 and 6 November 2008, eight INES incidents were registered in the twin-unit plant, five of which occurred in Unit II. (Source: CSN)
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Ascó (Spain)
In October 2021, the Spanish government approved an extension of the operating license for Ascó-1 and -2 until 2030 and 2031, respectively.
The Spanish safety authority Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear (CSN) reported on its Internet portal about the incident in 2007, which was classified as an INES level 2 incident, and about other incidents that occurred between 2005 and 2008. According to Greenpeace, the nuclear regulatory authority CSN played down the incidents, but examined hundreds of people at Ascó for contamination.
The operators had to pay a fine of 2007 million euros for the 15,4 incident. In 2011, it was discovered that 233 containers of radioactive waste had been lost from the Ascó nuclear power plant. An investigation and sanction proceedings were initiated against the operators. In 2017, the operators were sentenced to a fine of 1,1 million euros.
SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...
October 2008 (INES Class.?) NPP Gravelines, FRA
Wikipedia
Gravelines nuclear power plant
During the revision in June, the engine of one of the two emergency diesel engines was replaced. After more than three months, in October, it was found that this replacement engine had not been properly installed: the diesel would not have been available for three months, which represents a redundancy failure that is far too long ...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Gravelines (France)
SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...
Aug 25, 2008 (INES-3) Nuclear medicine 
IRE Fleurus, BEL
Greenpeace
Belgium: Radiation accident more serious than expected
The accident occurred at the Institut des Radioéléments (IRE). The company produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment. On Friday, August 22, radioactive iodine-131 leaked from the plant.
According to the IRE, the leak was discovered the following Monday morning and operations were stopped. On Monday evening at 17:30 p.m., the operator informed the Belgian nuclear regulator FANC.
On Thursday morning, August 28, the nuclear regulator sent a team to Fleurus to take samples. On Thursday night, a warning was issued to the population. The authority recommended that people not eat fruit and vegetables from their gardens or dairy products. The accident was classified as level 3 on the seven-level INES scale.
The case raises questions. It is completely unclear why IRE did not contact the authorities until Monday evening. Contrary to initial statements, elevated radiation levels had apparently been measured in a ventilation shaft for two days.
What is even more incomprehensible is that the Belgian nuclear regulator only reacted days later. And why a spokesman for the authority initially said on the radio that there was no risk to the population.
At this point, IRE estimated that 45 gigabecquerels of iodine-131 had been released...
Wikipedia
Flowers#2008
Radiochemical Industrial Plant - 2008
After completion of a production process, three smaller collection tanks were filled into a larger waste water tank. This led to an unexpected chemical reaction with the formation of radioactive iodine-131. Due to a defective measuring computer, this could escape slowly and unnoticed through a chimney into the environment for a few days. When the problem was noticed, production was stopped in the entire plant on the instructions of the Belgian supervisory authority and a district sector of 5 kilometers to the north-east was banned from the consumption of agricultural products for a few days ...
List of incidents in European nuclear facilities (INES 2 and 3)
Wikipedia
Translation https://translate.google.de
Institute national des radioéléments
An estimated 45 GBq of iodine-131 was released through the chimney. The Belgian nuclear regulatory agency Agence Fédérale de Contrôle Nucleaire (AFCN) shut down the IRE, a producer of radioisotopes for medical use, immediately after the accident was reported. Residents were warned by the police over loudspeakers six days after the incident not to eat fruit, vegetables, milk and water from the area, after the government's crisis management team had revoked the initial all-clear and activated the European information system ECURIE...
Wikipedia
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Nuclear power accidents by country#Belgium
From 2002 to 2011, a total of 5 INES relevant accidents (3 x INES-2 and 1 x each INES-4 and INES-3) registered in Belgium.
July 15 and August 18, 2008 (INES-1) NPP Santa Maria de Garoña, ESP
Slowly but surely, relevant infos about incidents in the nuclear industry is being removed from Wikipedia!
Wikipedia
Santa María de Garona
On July 15 and August 19, the plant's two battery systems were tested. According to the CSN authority, their determined capacity was insufficient. In the event of an accident, these direct current systems perform various safety functions, such as starting the emergency diesel or displaying the reactor status. The main problem with this event is that after detecting the malfunction of the first system on July 15, the operator did not test the second system immediately, but only on August 19, 2008 ...
CSN - Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Web.archiv.org/Santa Maria de Garona
Reportable Events
Level I event at the Santa María de Garoña nuclear power plant, reported on August 18, 2008, due to the detection of a capacity error in the supply batteries of the main buses A and B ...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Santa Maria de Garona (Spain)
In February 2012, it was decided to extend the term by five years until 2018. However, on December 16, 2012, nuclenor prematurely took the nuclear power plant off the grid due to a lack of profitability. An upgrade would have cost 120 million euros, and for 2013 there would also have been an increased tax of 153 million euros.
On June 19, 2013, the Spanish Energy Minister confirmed that the reactor would officially be permanently decommissioned on July 6, 2013...
July 23, 2008 (INES-0 Class.?) NPP 
Tricastin, Pierrelatte, FRA
Release of radioactive radiation into the environment means INES-3 ...
The operator Areva reported that on July 8, uranium-contaminated sewage had leaked and flowed into the Rhone. On July 23, around 100 people were "lightly contaminated" by radioactive particles.
(Cost approx. US$ 8,6 million)
Nuclear Power Accidents
Wikipedia
Tricastin Nuclear Power Plant
... on July 23, around 100 people were "lightly contaminated" by radioactive particles. The particles had escaped from the vent line of a shut down nuclear reactor.
Police forces searched the director's office to find out whether the operator had complied with the applicable safety regulations...
July 8, 2008 (INES-1 Class.?) Nuclear factory Eurodif, Pierrelatte, FRA
Release of radioactive radiation into the environment means INES-3 ...
Wikipedia
Eurodif#accident
... The radioactive solution seeped into the ground and through the sewage system reached the smaller rivers Gaffière and Lauzon, the Rhone, possibly also into the groundwater ...
The figures for the amount of pollutants released vary between 6,25 cubic meters of solution containing approximately 75 kilograms non-enriched uranium (operator information) and 30 cubic meters of solution containing approximately 360 kilograms of uranium (ASN).
According to an independent investigation by the organization CRIIRAD, the incident exceeded the legal limits for annual radiation emissions into the environment by more than 100 times ...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Tricastin (France)
2008 uranium accident
On July 8, 2008, an alarm was raised in the Tricastin area. In a plant for the treatment of uranium solutions on the nuclear power plant site, 30 cubic meters (= 30.000 liters) uranium-containing liquid leaked out of a leaking retention basin during cleaning ...
Water extraction and fishing were prohibited. The environmental protection movement Sortir du Nucléaire dismissed the regulator's claim that there was little risk as downplaying it. "Anyone who drinks contaminated water has the particles in their body. Even with low levels of radiation, there is a considerable risk of cancer."
On July 11, three days later, the nuclear supervisory authority prohibited further operation of the plant because the safety measures were insufficient. It was suddenly said 224 kilograms of uranium leaked and 74 kilograms of it got into the waters.
The classification of the accident as an INES level 1 incident was doubted by Sortir du Nucléaire because radioactivity was released. "If you take the information from the authorities as a basis, the incident should at least be classified as a "serious incident" at level 3, if not as an "accident" at level 4" ...
There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:
Sites for uranium enrichment and reprocessing
During reprocessing, the inventory of spent fuel elements can be separated from one another in a complex chemical process (PUREX). Separated uranium and plutonium can then be reused. As far as the theory...
YouTube 7:00
Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium
Reprocessing plants turn a few tons of nuclear waste into many tons of nuclear waste
All uranium and plutonium factories produce radioactive nuclear waste: Uranium processing, enrichment, and reprocessing plants, whether at Hanford, La Hague, Windscale/Sellafield, Mayak, Tokaimura, or elsewhere in the world, all face the same problem: With each processing step, more and more extremely toxic and highly radioactive waste is generated...
June 10, 2008 (INES Class.?) NPP Rivne, UKR
Deviation from the permissible ranges for the safe operation of the plant means at least INES-1 ...
Wikipedia
Rivne Nuclear Power Plant
Almost a week after Krško (June 4, 2008), the same scenario was repeated in the Ukrainian Rivne/Rovno NPP. This time the media reported very little or not at all about it. The power plant was temporarily taken offline...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Rivne (Ukraine)
Spiegel 17/1987
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
SPIEGEL report on concealed nuclear power plant accidents around the world Humanity has narrowly avoided disaster several times. This is revealed by 48 incident reports that were concealed by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency: often the most bizarre, mundane mishaps from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan...
June 6, 2008 (INES-1) NPP Philippsburg, GER
Release of radioactive radiation into the environment means INES-3 ...
Wikipedia
List of events
According to the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Environment, the following incident occurred on the night of Friday, the June 6, 2008 A pressure drop exceeding permissible limits was detected in the containment vessel of Unit 1. The vessel, which encloses critical reactor components, maintains a slight overpressure of 20 millibars during normal operation. According to the Ministry, the measured pressure drop was 1 millibar per hour and was attributed to a leak. The leak occurred during the plant's restart after maintenance and immediately after the containment vessel was flooded with nitrogen. On the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), it is classified as a Class 1 incident ("malfunction").
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Philippsburg (Baden-Wuerttemberg)
Philippsburg II was started up in August 2001 with a defective emergency cooling system. Although the defect was discovered two weeks later, the reactor remained in operation illegally. It was later discovered that the emergency cooling system had not been sufficiently filled for years. It should be added that the operator had not reported this incident to the supervisory authority in 2001. In November 2001, the Stuttgart Ministry of the Environment reported that contaminated water had leaked from Philippsburg I due to a fault in a valve for the plant drainage system.
Because a pump in reactor I was not turned off during the annual inspection of the rapid shutdown system, 2004 liters of radioactive water flowed into the Rhine in April 30.000. EnBW reported the accident to the nuclear regulator one day later...
June 4, 2008 (INES-0 Class.?) NPP Krsko, SVN
Deviation from the permissible ranges for the safe operation of the plant means at least INES-1 ...
Regulators shut down the Krsko nuclear power plant after the primary cooling system failed and coolant leaked into the reactor containment.
(Cost approx. US$ 12 million)
Nuclear Power Accidents
Wikipedia
Nuclear power plant Krško#incidents
On June 4, 2008 at 15, a loss-of-coolant accident occurred. Coolant had escaped in the main cooling system (primary circuit) and the reactor output was throttled as a result. The reactor was shut down and completely shut down at 07:20 ...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Krško (Slovenia)#Risks and Incidents
Problems already arose during delivery in 1981: when the 322-ton steam generator was being transported from Rijeka to Krško, it crashed into the motorway. In the first eight years, operations at the $70 billion facility were disrupted XNUMX times...
May 2008 (INES Class.?) NPP Cruas, FRA
Wikipedia
Cruas nuclear power plant
This block was in the revision standstill with the reactor open. Suddenly it was noticed that two valves of the residual heat removal were only partially open for a full four days, which significantly impeded the post-decay heat removal. Writes from an automatic alarm ASN nothing, it is therefore conceivable that the whole thing was only noticed after these four days by steam phenomena in the reactor flood basin (note: NPPs have to cool the fuel even after the reactor has cooled down and opened for the first time, since the fission products continue to with degressive intensity, decay).
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Cruas (France)
SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...
April 2008 (INES Class.?) NPP Flamanville, FRA
Wikipedia
Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant
In block 2 of the Akw Flamanville was acc. to Nuclear Regulatory Authority ASN "Severe corrosion" found in the engine cooling lines of both emergency diesel generators. The safety reserves for an emergency power case were therefore small ...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Flamanville (France)
SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...
February 4, 2008 (INES-0) NPP Krümmel, GER
Wikipedia
Nuclear power plant Krümmel
On February 4, 2008, a smoldering fire occurred in a ventilation system. The fire was extinguished by the plant fire department within an hour; no external help was necessary. The nuclear regulatory authority sent an expert and said that no radioactivity was released at any time. This incident (INES 0) was used by numerous environmental and climate protection organizations to question the safety of the Krümmel nuclear power plant and nuclear energy...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Krümmel (Schleswig-Holstein)
Boiling water reactor • Output: 1.402 MW • Type: BWR-69 • Manufacturer: KWU • Construction began April 5, 1974 • Commissioning: September 14, 1983 • Shutdown: August 6, 2011 • Start and end of dismantling: open
Der Spiegel
The breakdown series of the nuclear power plant operator Vattenfall
Trouble at the nuclear power plant operator Vattenfall: New details of the incidents in Brunsbüttel and Krümmel as well as new disruptions become known almost every day. The group is reprimanded for its information policy and security culture. Now there is a risk of the operator's license being revoked...
February 2008 (INES Class.?) Nuclear factory La Hague, FRA
Wikipedia
La Hague reprocessing plant
The highly active substances treated in this reprocessing plant constantly release explosive hydrogen, which threatens the tightness of the building when it reacts with oxygen. To avoid an explosion, the air in the building is freed from hydrogen by continuous circulation. For 3,5 hours, this circulation only worked in normal operation, both reserve air strands were not operational due to defects or maintenance work...
Greenpeace, under the supervision of a chartered technical surveyor, found ... 400 cubic meters of radioactive waste water are flushed daily through a four and a half kilometer pipe into the Alderney Strait via Herqueville. This operation is legal, since only the dumping of barrels with nuclear waste in the sea is prohibited, but direct discharge is not ...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
La Hague (France)
World's largest reprocessing plant
There have been a number of incidents in La Hague since it went into operation.
In November 2001, the European Parliament adopted a Study on the possible toxic effects of the reprocessing plants in La Hague (France) and Sellafield, written by WISE/Paris under the direction of Mycle Schneider. The study concluded that up to that point, both sites had caused the highest human-caused release of radioactivity ever, comparable to one major nuclear accident every year. The release of radioactive substances was possibly twice that after the Chernobyl disaster. A significant increase in leukaemia cases has been observed in the area surrounding both sites; it is considered possible that radioactive emissions from both plants may have contributed to this. At Sellafield, significant concentrations of radionuclides have been detected in food, sediments, flora and fauna. Carbon-14, caesium-137, cobalt-60, iodine-129, plutonium, strontium-90, technetium-99, the latter with a half-life of 214.000 years...
See in the EU study from 2001 ab Page 112
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:
Sites for uranium enrichment and reprocessing
During reprocessing, the inventory of spent fuel elements can be separated from one another in a complex chemical process (PUREX). Separated uranium and plutonium can then be reused. As far as the theory...
YouTube 7:00
Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium
Reprocessing plants turn a few tons of nuclear waste into many tons of nuclear waste
All uranium and plutonium factories produce radioactive nuclear waste: Uranium processing, enrichment, and reprocessing plants, whether at Hanford, La Hague, Windscale/Sellafield, Mayak, Tokaimura, or elsewhere in the world, all face the same problem: With each processing step, more and more extremely toxic and highly radioactive waste is generated...
SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...
February 2008 (INES Class.?) NPP Paluel, FRA
Wikipedia
Paluel Nuclear Power Plant
Incorrect dispositions of insulation fittings were found in one of the four blocks in February, which had existed for more than five months. "This questioned the tightness of the containment," writes the ASN, "during the period in question, had an accident happened". A core melt could have resulted in releases.
Wikipedia
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Nuclear power accidents by country#France
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Paluel (France)
The Paluel site is located in the Seine-Maritime department in northern France on the English Channel, northeast of Le Havre and northwest of Rouen.
In Paluel, four pressurized water reactors with an output of 1.382 MW each generate electricity, which went into operation between 1984 and 1986...
SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...
2007
December 2007 (INES Class.?) NPP Vandellos, ESP
Wikipedia
Nuclear Power Plant Vandellòs
After the eight Spanish NPP units had recorded 14 INES incidents in just three consecutive months, another incident occurred in Vandellos in December. During a test with the reactor running, some shutdown rods unexpectedly collapsed into the core. According to the supervisory authority CSN, this led to a pressure drop in the reactor circuit, and thus to the triggering of the emergency cooling. The pressure build-up that followed led to the activation of the reactor safety valves and the leakage of slightly contaminated cooling water into the containment sump. An internal emergency pre-alarm was triggered.
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Vandellos (Spain)
SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...
28 November 2007 (INES-2) NPP Asco, ESP
Release of radioactive radiation into the environment means INES-3 ...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Ascó (Spain)
In October 2021, the Spanish government approved an extension of the operating license for Ascó-1 and -2 until 2030 and 2031, respectively.
Escape of radioactive water
In November 2007, the conditions at the nuclear power plant seemed to be appalling. Radioactive particles were released through the ventilation system and also reached houses and the Ebro River. The operators only admitted the leak months later, after environmental protection organizations had obtained the relevant information. Dozens of school classes had visited the nuclear power plant in the meantime. Proceedings were opened against those responsible. In April 2011, 25.000 liters of radioactive water leaked out of the cooling circuit, and 14 workers had to be decontaminated.
[...] Because of the 2007 incident, the operators had to pay a fine of €15,4 million. In 2011, it was discovered that 233 containers of radioactive waste had been lost from the Ascó nuclear power plant. An investigation and sanctioning proceedings were initiated against the operators. In 2017, the operators were fined €1,1 million.
Wikipedia
Ascó Nuclear Power Plant
incidents
In an incident on November 28, 2007, radioactive particles totaling 84,95 million Becquerel were released into the environment. However, the operating company did not inform the supervisory authorities (“Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear”, CSN) until April 4, 2008, and only partially. On April 15, 2008, the incident was classified as Level 2 by the INES...
Wikipedia
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Asco Nuclear Power Plant
In November 2007, an INES level 1 incident occurred in reactor unit 2. The Spanish Council for Nuclear Safety (CSN) was not informed of the leak until April 4, 2008. Although the leak occurred in November, the particles were not discovered outdoors until March 2008.
CSN announced that it would change the classification of the leak from level 1 to level 2 because "the control of the radioactive material was inadequate and incomplete and inadequate information was provided to the control authority." An investigation was launched and the director of the plant was fired...
August 21, 2007 (INES-2) NPP Beznau, CHE
Wikipedia
Beznau nuclear power plant
On August 21, block 2 was in annual revision. The block-common reserve grid feed-in was switched off for maintenance work. To compensate, the emergency diesel generator of Unit 1, which was running at full load, was switched on when idling. After the reserve network was re-established, it was noticed that this diesel would not have fulfilled its emergency power function due to a fault. According to the HSK authority, there would theoretically still have been a cross-connection to the emergency diesel of the shut down Unit 2, but this diesel was also being maintained...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Beznau (Switzerland)
Greenpeace has published a fact sheet on Beznau with a list of incidents. According to this, for example, in 1992 two workers died who were in an unpumped room with argon. In 1997 there was a total failure of a cooling system for two weeks. According to the Swiss supervisory authority ENSI (then HSK), however, "one of three emergency cooling lines was not immediately ready for use for two weeks." In August 2009, two workers were badly exposed to radiation due to uncoordinated work. Incidents and emergency shutdowns have increased since 2007.
The August 2009 incident was assessed as an INES level 2 incident. Because of the incident, ENSI only certified that the Beznau nuclear power plant had sufficient operational safety in 2010 and initiated criminal proceedings...
July 22, 2007 (INES Class.?) NPP Unterweser, GER
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Unterweser (Niedersachsen)
On July 22, 2007, it was discovered that a fitting in one leg of the refrigeration system was improperly adjusted. In the event of an accident, the line would not have been able to provide the required cooling capacity.
Wikipedia
NPP Unterweser
... The cause was an incorrect adjustment of the electronic position indicator on the valve during the inspection in 2006. This was not noticed until the inspection in 2007.
SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...
June 28, 2007 (INES-0 Class.?) NPP Brunsbuettel, Germany
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Brunsbüttel (Schleswig-Holstein)
On June 28, 2007, the nuclear power plant was shut down automatically due to a power grid failure that caused a smoldering fire at the turbine. Because of this breakdown and faulty dowels and anchorages, the reactor was provisionally shut down in the same month and finally shut down on August 6, 2011 because of the federal government's nuclear phase-out decision ...
Wikipedia
Brunsbüttel Nuclear Power Plant#2007
During maintenance work in an E.ON power grid switchgear on June 28, 2007, a short circuit in the 380 kilovolt transmission network caused a fault in the immediate vicinity of the Brunsbüttel nuclear power plant. The plant was then automatically disconnected from the power grid and very quickly shut down to the output of around 30 MW required for the plant's own needs by means of "load shedding". In order to avoid damage during the sharp reduction in output, a turbine emergency shutdown was triggered and, as a result, the plant's own needs were switched to the external network transformer. The turbine emergency shutdown was immediately followed by a reactor emergency shutdown. When the plant was restarted on July 1, the reactor water purification system was shut off twice. According to the operator, these were both due to incorrect operation by the staff. The barriers were classified in category “N” (Normal) according to the AtSMV and in level 0 (with no or little safety significance) according to the international accident assessment scale INES...
MSGF - Ministry for Social Affairs, Health, Family, Youth and Senior Citizens of the State of Schleswig-Holstein
Interim report on the events at the Brunsbüttel and Krümmel nuclear power plants on June 28, 2007
Mirror dated July 12, 2007
The breakdown series of the nuclear power plant operator Vattenfall
Mirror dated July 17, 2007
Vattenfall's dark secret
The issues at hand are deficiencies in control technology, fracture safety, and protection against terrorist attacks. For months, Vattenfall's lawyers have been pulling out all the stops to prevent the publication of a list of deficiencies at the Brunsbüttel nuclear power plant. Now, environmentalists want to make the details public...
June 28, 2007 (INES-0 Class.?) NPP Krümmel, GER
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Krümmel
With the accident that occurred on June 28, 2007, the "safety culture" of the operators Vattenfall and E.ON reached a new low. A fire broke out in a transformer plant, which enveloped the nuclear power plant in large black clouds. The operator and the Ministry of the Environment said in unison that there was no danger. However, Vattenfall's claim that there was no connection between the fire and the nuclear area of the reactor was described as misleading and disinformation by the Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of Social Affairs, which is responsible for nuclear supervision.
The incident, which initially looked like a harmless industrial accident, increasingly gave the impression of a "near-disaster" that kept the public busy for weeks...
Wikipedia
Krümmel Nuclear Power Plant#28 June 2007
On June 28, 2007, a short circuit in one of the two power transformers led to an oil fire, which resulted in an unplanned reactor shutdown (RESA) and an unplanned failure of the main feed pumps. These two system errors led to a classification as reportable (INES 0). The emergency cooling systems functioned as designed, but further weaknesses in the organization and technology became apparent over time (misunderstanding in the control room, ingress of smoke, failure of an archiving system). The event was reported extensively in the media; the operator's information policy was sometimes heavily criticized...
MSGF - Ministry for Social Affairs, Health, Family, Youth and Senior Citizens of the State of Schleswig-Holstein
Interim report on the events at the Brunsbüttel and Krümmel nuclear power plants on June 28, 2007
Mirror dated July 12, 2007
The breakdown series of the nuclear power plant operator Vattenfall
Mirror dated July 17, 2007
Vattenfall's dark secret
The issues at hand are deficiencies in control technology, fracture safety, and protection against terrorist attacks. For months, Vattenfall's lawyers have been pulling out all the stops to prevent the publication of a list of deficiencies at the Brunsbüttel nuclear power plant. Now, environmentalists want to make the details public...
June 2007 (INES Class.?) NPP Cattenom, FRA
Wikipedia
Cattenom nuclear power plant
The plant on the border with Saarland released zinc into the Moselle in June in a concentration that was above the permitted limit. The annual limit has not been exceeded, writes EDF; it remains unclear whether it was normal zinc (heavy metal) or the radioactive isotope.
Wikipedia
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Nuclear power accidents by country#France
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Cattenom (France)
According to an information sheet from the citizens' initiative "Cattenom Non Merci," approximately 2014 reportable events had occurred at the Cattenom nuclear power plant by 800. Among them was the release of contaminated water in the containment on February 17, 2002 (INES Level 1).
SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...
7 May 2007 (INES-1) NPP Philippsburg, GER
After an inspection, the safety container was not properly closed "because of an inaccurate limit switch"..
(Costs ?)
Nuclear Power Accidents
Wikipedia
List of events
On May 7, 2007, the security container was not closed properly after an inspection “due to a limit switch that was not switched precisely”. A valve was open on both sides of the passenger lock (Category E and INES 1).
Philippsburg nuclear power plant breakdowns and incidents
On May 7, 2007, another reportable event occurred in block 1: two small fittings on the personnel airlock of the containment were forgotten to be closed when starting up and nitrogen escaped during inerting. This event has been assigned to Category E (Breaking News) INES 1.
archive.today (https://archiv.ph)
Ministry for Environment, Climate and Energy
Leakage from the containment vessel via a pressure equalization line of the personnel airlock at the Philippsburg nuclear power plant (unit 1)
Date: 08.05.2007
Facts:
During the restart of Unit 1 of the Philippsburg nuclear power plant after the completion of its maintenance outage, a slight pressure drop in the containment vessel revealed that two pressure equalization valves in the personnel airlock had been incorrectly left open. The resulting leak caused nitrogen to escape from the containment vessel, through the personnel airlock, and into the annular space between the containment vessel and its surrounding steel shell. This annular space is vented via a filter system into the exhaust stack.
Classification by the power plant operator:
Reporting category E (breaking news);
INES 1 (Deviation from permissible ranges) ...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Philippsburg (Baden-Wuerttemberg)
Employees at the Philippsburg nuclear power plant made serious allegations against the operator EnBW. Especially since the shutdown of Philippsburg I, "safety measures have been sloppy, nuclear regulators have been deceived, incidents have been kept quiet. The company is playing it down, but the Environment Ministry in Stuttgart is alarmed."
2007 (INES Class.?) NPP Leibstadt, CHE
Wikipedia
Leibstadt nuclear power plant
When the automatic pressure relief system (DAS) was accidentally triggered during a test in normal operation, some of the pressure relief valves in the reactor system opened. The water had to be replenished with the emergency cooling (sources: IAEO, HSK)
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Leibstadt (Switzerland)
incidents Unfortunately, those prior to 2005 are not recorded...
On March 28, 2005, the nuclear power plant had to be taken offline for five months due to a ground fault in the generator stator.
In July 2009, radioactive aerosols were released during maintenance work and inhaled by two workers; the workers underwent radiological examinations.
An incident classified as an INES Level 2 incident occurred during the annual maintenance outage in 2010. During maintenance work in the spent fuel pool, an employee's hand became contaminated with radiation, exceeding the annual limit for hand exposure.
The operator has been experiencing problems with salmonella in the cooling water since 2011. The bacteria are "brought in" from the Rhine and exceed the permissible limit tenfold. Since previously used methods failed to solve the problem, a long-term trial using chlorine dioxide against the bacteria was planned to begin in 2014.
At the end of June 2014, the operator reported to the ENSI (Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate) that holes for hanging fire extinguishers had been accidentally drilled into the primary containment, which surrounds the reactor pressure vessel. The operator classified the damage to the containment as a Level 1 incident on the INES scale. The ENSI criticized the incident as an "organizational deficiency" but allowed the reactor to continue operating during repairs. Greenpeace called the incident "appalling" and demanded an immediate shutdown.
At the end of September 2015, the nuclear power plant was shut down "due to an oil leak in the turbine control system," and on October 17 due to a defect in the non-nuclear cooling water circuit. On January 14, 2016, it was reported that one of the four emergency cooling systems had been out of service for a period of 11 days. The Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI) classified this as an INES Level 1 incident and criticized the inadequate maintenance.
In February 2018, it was reported that deficiencies in the safety culture at the Leibstadt nuclear power plant had existed for years: A now-suspended employee had, at least since 2016, stopped testing radiation measuring devices for functionality and instead entered fabricated data into logs. Similar falsifications of logs had already occurred in 2001. On September 20, 2018, an increase in radiation exposure occurred during the storage of the so-called water separator due to the incorrect operation of a valve.
On May 29, 2023, during the restart after the annual maintenance outage, an unplanned automatic reactor scram occurred due to a low water level in the reactor. The cause was a restricted feedwater flow to the reactor, as a reactor feed valve had not yet been opened.
SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...
April 9, 2007 (INES-1 Class.?) NPP Dampierre, FRA
Wikipedia
Dampierre nuclear power plant
Failure of the external network including the reserve network as well as an emergency diesel generator with 100% supply capacity. The factory is about 80 km from Paris. The reactor was cooled down with the only remaining diesel (100%). Nevertheless, the French regulatory authority ASN only classified the incident with INES 1. Reason: The redundancy reserves of the self-steam-driven auxiliary turbine (ready for immediate use) and the gas turbine (whose synchronization could take hours) were still available (sources: ASN, IRSN)
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Dampierre (France)
On April 9, 2007, the nuclear power plant was completely cut off from power after a surge protection relay failed and other defects occurred at Dampierre-3, leaving only an emergency diesel generator as the sole power source. The power supply was stabilized by an additional emergency generator and, after various repairs, restored the following morning...
2006
October 9, 2006 (1st nuclear test, North Korea) Punggye-ri, PRK
Since 1945, over 2050 nuclear weapons tests have been carried out worldwide, which could be a possible explanation for the steadily increasing number of cancer cases.
IPPNW Report - August 2023 - Nuclear Weapons Tests - (PDF file)
... Aboveground tests were conducted at several Atolls in the Pacific Ocean in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, on traditional land of the Western Shoshone in Nevada, USA, on Aboriginal land in Australian Outback, on the land of the indigenous Nenetz in the Russian Arctic, in the territory of nomads in the Algerian Sahara, in Uighur region in China and elsewhere. Residents were often evacuated late or not at all, and were not informed about the effects of the tests. Radioactive fallout fell as dust and rain, contaminating drinking water and locally produced food...
Wikipedia
North Korean nuclear weapons program
Underground, 0,55 kilotons (kT) - According to North Korean information, the test was successfully carried out on October 9, 2006. Numerous governments around the world sharply criticized the bomb test; even China, allied with North Korea, faced consequences ...
Punggye-ri (Proving Grounds)
List of nuclear weapons tests
Chronological, incomplete list of nuclear weapons tests. The table contains only significant points in the history of the detonation of an atomic bomb for test purposes...
Atomwaffen A - Z
North Korea
“De facto” nuclear weapons state | “De Facto” Nuclear Weapon State
North Korea signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1985 after US intelligence discovered a classified reactor capable of producing plutonium. The North Korean government refused until 1992 to allow full control by the Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). During subsequent inspections, the IAEA found that there was a discrepancy between North Korea's reported amount of reprocessed plutonium and its own measurements. The IAEA suspected more plutonium was being reprocessed for a nuclear weapons program, totaling over 20 kilograms - enough for three small warheads. Tensions between the US and North Korea over nuclear weapons led to a crisis in the spring of 1994 that nearly culminated in war...
Punggye-ri
Nuclear test site, North Korea
All of North Korea's six previous nuclear tests (2006-2017) were conducted at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site (also known as Hwaderi). The facility is located in the mountains north of Hamgyeong Province in the northeast of the country under Mount Mantap. At the end of April 2018, North Korea decommissioned the nuclear test site and detonated significant parts in front of gathered press on May 24, 2018, following a summit agreement with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to promote peace between the two parts of Korea...
Nuclear weapon states
There are nine nuclear weapons states, but only five are "recognized." The United States, Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom - the states that also have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council - are named as "nuclear weapons states" in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty because they exploded nuclear weapons before 1957. However, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea also possess nuclear weapons, although Israel does not admit to having them, and are therefore not members of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty...
July 25, 2006 (INES-2) NPP Forsmark, SWE
A short circuit in an outdoor switchgear of the network near the boiling water reactors caused the emergency shutdown of unit 1 and led to a series of subsequent failures in the plant in a complex scenario. Due to a design error, disconnecting the plant from the grid and switching to house load operation - in which the power plant uses its own electricity to run important ancillary units - did not work as planned.
(Cost approx. US$ 12 million)
Nuclear Power Accidents
Wikipedia
Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant
On July 25, 2006, the Forsmark-1 reactor was automatically disconnected from the power supply after a short-circuit in the substation through which the nuclear power plant feeds its electricity to the general grid. This led to a load shedding of the generator and the heat produced in the reactor could no longer be converted into electrical power. The reactor was shut down via a scram. The electricity for the control of the nuclear power plant and the feed pumps, which have to dissipate the decay heat, failed. It had to be provided as a substitute by diesel emergency power generators. However, two of the four generators could not feed into the emergency power grid because they remained electrically connected to the 500 V line, which had failed. In addition, the power supply for some of the measuring devices in the control room failed...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Forsmark (Sweden)
On July 25, 2006, Sweden apparently narrowly escaped a nuclear catastrophe. Reactor 1 at Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant was cut off from power supply due to a short circuit. Only two out of four emergency generators started up. An investigation into the accident revealed that the short circuit had failed computers, speakers, and displays, preventing personnel from seeing the reactor data clearly. "For example, the water level in the reactor dropped significantly as a result of the scrambling, but the exact level remained unclear because of the power outage."
According to the former chief designer of the nuclear power plant, Höglund, you were only 20 minutes away from a meltdown.
The accident was classified as an INES level 2 incident.
March 11, 2006
(INES-4) IRE Fleurus, BEL
A worker was severely irradiated by the ionizing radiation source Cobalt-60.
Nuclear Power Accidents
Wikipedia
Flowers#2006
Radiochemical Industrial Plant - 2006
Due to a hydraulic failure, a cobalt source was lifted out of a radiation-shielding water basin, although no irradiation process was taking place and the door to the room was open. Due to the alarm being triggered, a technician entered the room. During his stay of just 20 seconds, he received a radiation dose of around 4,6 Sievert, which can be life-threatening in the medium term (INES 4)...
List of accidents in nuclear facilities (INES 4 to 7)
Wikipedia
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Institut national des radioéléments#Incidents
On March 11, 2006, a worker working in food irradiation at Sterigenics was severely irradiated by the Cobalt-6020 ionizing radiation source. He entered the room when the source was not secured and received a high, potentially fatal dose of 4,4 to 4,8 Gray. This was a level 4 accident on the INES scale. The IRE had a contract for safety management at the company...
Wikipedia
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Nuclear power accidents by country#Belgium
From 2002 to 2011, a total of 5 INES-relevant accidents (3 x INES-2 and 1 x INES-4 and INES-3 each) were registered in Belgium.
6 March 2006 (INES-2) Nuclear factory NFS, Erwin, TN, USA
At a plant operated by Nuclear Fuel Services in Erwin 35 liters of highly enriched uranium leaked out., which necessitated a seven-month shutdown.
(Cost approx. US$ 115 million)
Nuclear Power Accidents
Wikipedia
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Nuclear Fuel Services
Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS)
is an American nuclear company. Along with BWX Technologies, the company is the main supplier of nuclear fuel for the US Navy. In addition, the company deals with the conversion of plutonium and uranium from nuclear weapons into fuel rods for nuclear power plants. Browns Ferry nuclear power station is one of the main customers. In addition, one deals with the decontamination of old nuclear power plants. Headquarters Erwin is a small town in Tennessee, Unicoi County.
On August 20, 2007, it was announced that a criticality accident had almost occurred in Erwin...
Nuclear power accidents by country#United_States
March 6, 2006 Erwin, Tennessee, USA. The NFS facility leaks 35 liters of highly enriched uranium, necessitating a seven-month shutdown.
Nuclear Fuel Services#NRC events
On May 11, 2008, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission released information on emergency reports related to two incidents that occurred in 2006 at the Erwin facility. The first incident was a liquid spill of highly enriched uranium that could have resulted in a criticality incident.
The second incident involved an uncontrolled "point of accumulation" where a critical mass of uranium could have accumulated and was discovered in the course of responding to the first incident. In other words, no protection systems were in place to prevent solution leakage from occurring at the bottom of an elevator shaft in the facility. The result of material accumulation in a confined space could be a criticality incident.
AtomkraftwerkePlag
There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:
Sites for uranium enrichment and reprocessing
During reprocessing, the inventory of spent fuel elements can be separated from one another in a complex chemical process (PUREX). Separated uranium and plutonium can then be reused. As far as the theory...
1 March 2006 (INES-2) NPP Kozloduy, BGR
During the power reduction in the Russian-design pressurized water reactor (VVER), the operators discovered that 22 of 61 control rods could not be moved with the drive mechanisms.
(Costs ?)
Nuclear Power Accident
Wikipedia
Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant#Incidents
On March 1, 2006, one of four main coolant pumps in Unit 5 failed, which is why the power was to be reduced by 6% by inserting a group of 30 control rods. However, 3 of these remained stuck in the uppermost position, whereupon the reactor was shut down by injecting boric acid into the cooling circuit. A rapid shutdown was then simulated by inserting the remaining nine groups with a total of 54 control rods in order to check their function. This showed that a further 19 control rods failed in the same way (a total of 22 out of 60). The cause of the malfunction was a change in the design of the control rods by the manufacturer Gidropress. In the event of a simultaneous loss of coolant (e.g. due to the supply line breaking off), their failure could have led to overheating and melting of the reactor core. The operator had originally classified the incident as level 0 on the International Nuclear Event Scale, but the regulator classified it as level 2. The incident was not made known until two months later...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Kozloduy (Bulgaria)
... Of the original six reactors, units 5 and 6 with an output of 1.000 and 1.040 MW, which were put into operation in 1987 and 1991, are still online. Reactors 1 and 2 were decommissioned in 2002, reactors 3 and 4 in 2006.
[...] During an IAEA ASSET mission in 1993, a total of 93 incidents that occurred between December 1990 and May 1993 were investigated, of which 73 were considered safety-relevant. In 1994, 425 incidents were recorded, 177 of which were safety-relevant (one incident was classified as INES Level 2)...
2005
August 4, 2005 (INES Class.?) NPP Indian Point, USA
Release of radioactive radiation into the environment means INES-3 ...
The Indian Point nuclear power plant on the Hudson River released unknown amounts of tritium between 1974 and 2016, Strontium, Caesium, cobalt and nickel free.
(Cost approx. US$ 34,2 million)
Nuclear Power Accidents
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Indian Point (USA)#Incidents
... On September 1, 2005, the operator announced that radioactive liquid had leaked out of the spent fuel pool at Indian Point 2. According to the NRC investigation, the liquid contained tritium, strontium-90, cobalt-60, cesium-137 and nickel-63. The leak could not be permanently repaired until November 2008 ...
The releases of radioactivity before 2007 are recorded in Wikipedia no longer mentioned.
Wikipedia
Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant
The decommissioned Indian Point nuclear power plant consists of three pressurized water reactors and is located in Buchanan (New York) on the Hudson River, which is important for New York's drinking water supply, 55 kilometers north of the center of New York City. 80 percent of the US population, almost 6 million people, live within a radius of 20 kilometers. The nuclear power plant is located in a relatively seismically active area.
Reactor unit 1 was in operation from 1962 to 1974. It was shut down in 1974 because the emergency cooling system could no longer be approved, and the last fuel rods were removed in 1976. Units 2 and 3, built by Westinghouse, were in commercial operation from 1974 and 1976 respectively. Following an agreement reached in early 2017, reactor 2 was shut down on April 30, 2020, and reactor 3 followed on April 30, 2021...
incidents
[...] There is reportedly a leak in the spent fuel pool through which radioactivity is escaping into the groundwater. On February 6, 2016, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of the US state of New York, announced that "alarmingly high" radiation levels had been detected at the nuclear power plant; apparently, tritium-contaminated water had leaked from the plant. Groundwater levels of up to 296 Bq per liter were measured in neighboring towns; the limit is 0,45 Bq.
Wikipedia
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Indian Point Energy Center#Incidents
In 2005, Entergy employees discovered a small leak in a spent fuel pool during excavation work. Water containing tritium and strontium-90 leaked through a crack in the pool building and entered the nearby Hudson River. Despite the leak, workers managed to safely cover the spent fuel rods. On March 22, 2006, The New York Times reported that radioactive nickel-63 and strontium had been found in the groundwater at the site.
Nuclear power accidents by country#United_States
Entergy's Indian Point Energy Center nuclear power plant leaked tritium and strontium into underground lakes from 1974 to 2005.
June 29, 2005 (INES Class.?) NPP Forsmark, SWE
Release of radioactive radiation into the environment means INES-3 ...
Radioactive water leaked into the Baltic Sea from an interim storage facility.
(Cost approx. US$ 12 million)
Nuclear Power Accidents
Wikipedia
List of incidents at European nuclear facilities#29 June 2005
Forsmark, June 29, 2005
On June 29, 2005, radioactive water leaked into the Baltic Sea from the interim storage facility for low and medium-level radioactive waste at the Swedish nuclear power plant Forsmark. Ten times the normal level of radioactive caesium was measured in the waters near the power plant. However, according to the Swedish Radiation Protection Institute SSI, this is still within the permissible limits. The leak was probably caused by corroded metal containers containing radioactive waste.
The release of radioactivity on 29 June 2005 is not mentioned in the following Wikipedia-Post not mentioned.
Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant
The first nuclear fuel was delivered to Forsmark in 1977, but commercial operation was delayed until 1980. The reason for this was the accident in Harrisburg and the waiting for the results of a referendum in which Sweden's people voted on the future of nuclear energy...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Forsmark
According to a Greenpeace statement from 2012, the Swedish nuclear power plants in Forsmark, Oskarshamn and Ringhals pose a great danger to the population in Sweden and its neighboring countries due to "technical defects and a poor culture of safety control" ...
SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...
June 16, 2005 (INES Class.?) NPP Braidwood, USA
Release of radioactive radiation into the environment means INES-3 ...
Millions of liters of tritium-contaminated water They were released from the nuclear power plant between spring 1996 and March 2006 and contaminated the local water supply..
(Cost approx. US$ 48 million)
Nuclear Power Accidents
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Braidwood
In the hot summers of 2000 and 2012, the operator had to obtain special permits to operate the nuclear power plant at higher cooling temperatures than originally planned.
Braidwood is a nuclear power plant that was threatened with closure. However, on September 16, 2021, the governor of Illinois signed an energy law that would provide a $694 million cash injection for the endangered Braidwood, Byron, and Dresden nuclear power plants.
incidents
In 2006, Excelon was charged with dumping millions of gallons of tritum-contaminated wastewater into groundwater from spring 1996 to March 2006, a charge the operator did not report until December 2005.
For example, on June 16, 2005, tritium leaked from the nuclear power plant and contaminated the local water supply; the damage caused a cost of US$48 million.
In June 2011, US media reported that tritium leaks had been detected at 48 out of 65 nuclear power plant sites in the US. According to a July 2014 list, Braidwood was also affected...
Slowly but surely, relevant infos about incidents in the nuclear industry is being removed from Wikipedia!
Wikipedia
Braidwood
In March 2006, multiple lawsuits were filed against Exelon and Commonwealth Edison for tritium releases into local water systems between 1996 and 2003...
Wikipedia
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Nuclear power accidents by country#United_States
SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...
April 19, 2005 (INES-3) Thorp, Seascale, Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR
20 tons of uranium and 160 kilograms of plutonium leaked over the course of a year from a burst pipe at the thermal oxide reprocessing plant (Thorp) at Sellafield.
(Cost approx. US$ 76 million)
Nuclear Power Accidents
The nuclear chain
Sellafield/Windscale, UK
The largest civilian and military nuclear facility in Europe is in Sellafield. While in the past plutonium was produced here for the British nuclear weapons program, the site now serves as a nuclear waste reprocessing plant. The Great Fire of 1957 and numerous radioactive leaks contaminated the environment and exposed the population to increased levels of radiation...
This INES 3 accident from 2005 is the first and only accident at Sellafield after Windscale 1957 that can still be found in Wikipedia. This means that all accidents from the 48 years between 1957 and 2005 can no longer be found.
Wikipedia
Sellafield# Incidents
In April 2005, a leak was discovered in Sellafield, through which around 83.000 liters of radioactive liquid, consisting of nitric acid, uranium and plutonium, escaped unnoticed for months. It is the most serious incident at a nuclear facility in Great Britain since 1992. The public was only informed weeks later, the first press reports appeared on May 9, 2005. The "Independent on Sunday" later reported that the pipe had been leaking since August 2004, but this was not discovered until April 19, 2005.
The British nuclear company BNG (British Nuclear Group), which is responsible for the decommissioning of the Sellafield reactors, was fined on 16 October 2006 for negligence to pay £500.000 (around 750.000 euros) for the incident. The cost of this event is estimated at $76 million.
Since the late 1940's and Windscale/Sellafield's inception, approximately 20 incidents of greater or lesser severity involving the release of radioactivity have been reported. Up until the mid-1980s, large quantities of the nuclear waste generated in day-to-day operations were discharged in liquid form via a pipeline into the Irish Sea.
Wikipedia
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sellafield
Nuclear power accidents by country#United_Kingdom
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Sellafield (formerly Windscale), UK
On April 19, 2005, a leak from a damaged pipe was discovered at the THORP facility, from which 83.000 liters of radioactive acid had spilled. The British nuclear company British Nuclear Group (BNC) admitted that it had not complied with safety regulations and was ordered to pay 500.000 British pounds. The incident has been classified by the IAEA as a serious INES level 3 incident...
In November 2001, the European Parliament adopted a Study on the possible toxic effects of the reprocessing plants in La Hague (France) and Sellafield, written by WISE/Paris under the direction of Mycle Schneider. The study concluded that up to that point, both sites had caused the highest human-caused release of radioactivity ever, comparable to one major nuclear accident every year. The release of radioactive substances was possibly twice that after the Chernobyl disaster. A significant increase in leukaemia cases has been observed in the area surrounding both sites; it is considered possible that radioactive emissions from both plants may have contributed to this. At Sellafield, significant concentrations of radionuclides have been detected in food, sediments, flora and fauna. Carbon-14, caesium-137, cobalt-60, iodine-129, plutonium, strontium-90, technetium-99, the latter with a half-life of 214.000 years...
According to an October 2018 report, the decommissioning of Sellafield is scheduled to be completed by 2120. Estimated to cost £121bn...
There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:
Sites for uranium enrichment and reprocessing
During reprocessing, the inventory of spent fuel elements can be separated from one another in a complex chemical process (PUREX). Separated uranium and plutonium can then be reused. As far as the theory...
YouTube 7:00
Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium
Reprocessing plants turn a few tons of nuclear waste into many tons of nuclear waste
All uranium and plutonium factories produce radioactive nuclear waste: Uranium processing, enrichment, and reprocessing plants, whether at Hanford, La Hague, Windscale/Sellafield, Mayak, Tokaimura, or elsewhere in the world, all face the same problem: With each processing step, more and more extremely toxic and highly radioactive waste is generated...
March 28, 2005 (INES Class.?) NPP Leibstadt, CHE
Wikipedia
Leibstadt nuclear power plant
On March 28, 2005, the Leibstadt NPP came to a standstill for five months. The reason for this was damage to the generator; the repair work on the generator was not the responsibility of the HSK (nuclear supervisory authority), as the nuclear part of the nuclear power plant was not affected.
SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Leibstadt (Switzerland)
incidents Unfortunately, those prior to 2005 are not recorded...
On March 28, 2005, the nuclear power plant had to be taken offline for five months due to a ground fault in the generator stator.
In July 2009, radioactive aerosols were released during maintenance work and inhaled by two workers; the workers underwent radiological examinations.
An incident classified as an INES Level 2 incident occurred during the annual maintenance outage in 2010. During maintenance work in the spent fuel pool, an employee's hand became contaminated with radiation, exceeding the annual limit for hand exposure.
The operator has been experiencing problems with salmonella in the cooling water since 2011. The bacteria are "brought in" from the Rhine and exceed the permissible limit tenfold. Since previously used methods failed to solve the problem, a long-term trial using chlorine dioxide against the bacteria was planned to begin in 2014.
At the end of June 2014, the operator reported to the ENSI (Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate) that holes for hanging fire extinguishers had been accidentally drilled into the primary containment, which surrounds the reactor pressure vessel. The operator classified the damage to the containment as a Level 1 incident on the INES scale. The ENSI criticized the incident as an "organizational deficiency" but allowed the reactor to continue operating during repairs. Greenpeace called the incident "appalling" and demanded an immediate shutdown.
At the end of September 2015, the nuclear power plant was shut down "due to an oil leak in the turbine control system," and on October 17 due to a defect in the non-nuclear cooling water circuit. On January 14, 2016, it was reported that one of the four emergency cooling systems had been out of service for a period of 11 days. The Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI) classified this as an INES Level 1 incident and criticized the inadequate maintenance.
In February 2018, it was reported that deficiencies in the safety culture at the Leibstadt nuclear power plant had existed for years: A now-suspended employee had, at least since 2016, stopped testing radiation measuring devices for functionality and instead entered fabricated data into logs. Similar falsifications of logs had already occurred in 2001. On September 20, 2018, an increase in radiation exposure occurred during the storage of the so-called water separator due to the incorrect operation of a valve.
On May 29, 2023, during the restart after the annual maintenance outage, an unplanned automatic reactor scram occurred due to a low water level in the reactor. The cause was a restricted feedwater flow to the reactor, as a reactor feed valve had not yet been opened.
2005 (INES-2All nuclear power plants in France
The regulatory authority ASN announced that in the event of a leak in the reactor circuit, if the suction strainers for the emergency cooling system in the containment sump become clogged (with waste such as insulation material or rags), "the coolability of the core cannot be guaranteed." INES rating: 2. Improvement measures have been announced. Cleanliness is the lesser problem; the insulation material only detaches due to a leak caused by the pressure forces of the escaping water jet.
2004
November 4, 2004 (INES Class.?) NPP Balakovo, RUS
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Balakovo (Russia)
On the night of November 3rd to 4th, 2004, an accident occurred due to a turbine malfunction, which caused the Balakovo-2 reactor to be automatically shut down. The reactor is said to have suffered no damage. However, conflicting reports caused great concern among the population: "Hundreds of residents fled that day out of fear of radioactive contamination of the surrounding area. Shop owners closed their shops, and pharmacies were out of iodine products to prevent health damage caused by radioactive radiation." The reactor was restarted a few days later...
Wikipedia
Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant#Incident
On November 4, 2004, an accident occurred at the nuclear power plant, which caused great concern among the population in the town and the surrounding area, and some even panicked. Eyewitnesses and news agencies reported that numerous frightened residents stocked up on iodine-based radiation antidotes in pharmacies. Universities in Samara, 300 kilometers to the northeast, were closed. Shops in the city advised their employees to stay at home. The environmental organization Greenpeace in Russia feared a leak. The incident brought back memories of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in April 1986 in Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union).
Ultimately, according to the operator Energoatom, the incident at the power plant was only a minor malfunction. There were no increased radioactive emissions and a danger could be ruled out, the Russian nuclear agency said...
SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...
Aug 25, 2004 (INES-2) NPP Vandellos, ESP
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Vandellos (Spain)
Pipe burst and generator fire in Vandellós-2
In 2004, a pipe burst occurred in the cooling circuit of the Vandellós-2 reactor. Due to its significance for reactor safety, it was classified as an INES Level 2 incident and resulted in an action plan for the following three years to address organizational and technical problems.
CSN - Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear
Translation https://translate.google.de
CSN - Council for Nuclear Safety
Pipe rupture in line B of the water supply system for emergency operation on August 25, 2004
On August 25, 2004, while the power plant was operating at 100% capacity, a shaft ruptured, providing access to Line B of the water supply system for emergency operation. Given the incident's significance to safety, the CSN classified it as Level 2 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES)...
Slowly but surely, relevant infos about incidents in the nuclear industry is being removed from Wikipedia!
The list of incidents at the Vandellos nuclear power plant, for example, only begins in 2014.
Wikipedia
Vandellòs Nuclear Power Plant#Incidents
On October 10, 2014, both external power grid supplies failed at Unit 2 during power operation. As a result, it could no longer supply or draw power from the grid. Shutting down the reactor for repairs requires power, which, due to the power outage, had to be supplied by emergency diesel generators at the plant. After one hour and 24 minutes, the power supply was restored, thus ending the emergency power situation. The incident was further complicated by display failures in the plant's emergency room.
On February 4, 2015, an incorrect control signal caused the main feedwater pumps in Unit 2 to fail. Strong winds were reportedly the cause of the incorrect signal. Continued operation was no longer possible without main feedwater, and the reactor had to be cooled down using the emergency feedwater system.
List of incidents at European nuclear facilities - 2001 to 2010
The supervisory authority CSN determined that the operator of this plant had concealed from it a line corrosion for years, which could have called the functionality of the component cooling into question. If the two lines had failed at about the same time (and not just one, as happened), the reactor would hardly have been able to be cooled down ...
August 9, 2004 (INES-1 Class.?) NPP Mihama, JPN
A steam explosion in block 3 of the Mihama nuclear power station killed 5 workers and injured 6 others.
(Cost approx. US$ 11 million)
Nuclear Power Accidents
Wikipedia
Mihama Nuclear Power Plant#Incidents
After two minor incidents in Block 2 in 1991 and 2003, a fatal accident occurred on August 9, 2004 at 15:30 p.m. local time, with four employees killed. According to police, the workers were hit by a jet of steam at 270 degrees Celsius. Seven more people were injured. The accident was caused by a leak in the turbine hall...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Mihama (Japan))#2004 pipeline break and other incidents
In August 2004, at Mihama-3, a condensate line in the non-nuclear secondary circuit broke longitudinally and circumferentially. The escaping hot water turned to steam and scalded workers; five died and six others were injured. The cause was corrosion and sloppiness: the wall thickness of the line had thinned from an initial 10 mm to around 1,5 mm, and the line is said not to have been checked since the reactor was commissioned. The vulnerability had been known a year earlier...
Wikipedia
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Mihama Nuclear Power Plant#2004 accident
On August 9, 2004, an accident occurred in a building housing the turbines of the Mihama 3 reactor. Hot water and steam leaked from a broken pipe, killing five workers and injuring six others. The accident, which is currently being investigated, INES level 0 was described as the worst accident (up to that point) in a Japanese nuclear power plant...
Nuclear power accidents by country#Japan
A main pipe burst in the turbine building of the Mihama-3 power plant, killing those present; the subsequent investigation revealed a serious lack of systematic controls at Japanese nuclear power plants, which led to an extensive control program.
July 27, 2004 (INES-1 Class.?) NPP Neckarwestheim, BW, DEU
Release of radioactive radiation into the environment means INES-3 ...
Wikipedia
Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant#Safety and reportable events (selection)
At the Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant, human error caused an incident in which water from Block II, contaminated with two megabecquerels, got into the Neckar despite countermeasures being taken immediately. For the first time in Germany, the incident led to the operating company of a nuclear power plant (EnBW) having to pay a fine (€25.000). A plant manager was fired because he had made critical comments.
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Neckarwestheim II (Baden-Wuerttemberg)
On July 27, 2004, low-level radioactive water escaped from the nuclear power plant and flowed unnoticed into the Neckar. Since the release of radioactive substances was not reported, administrative offense proceedings were initiated ...
February 8, 2004 (INES-0) NPP Biblis, GER
Wikipedia
Biblis Nuclear Power Plant#Events and Disturbances
During full-load operation, a weather-related short circuit occurred outside the power plant due to an unsafe covering of safety-relevant equipment, which led to the power plant block being disconnected from the 220 kV high-voltage grid at 12:48 p.m. As a result of the incident, the block also disconnected from the 380 kV grid due to faulty control mechanisms. This sudden drop in load meant that the plant could no longer stabilize itself on its own. As a result of these events, the reactor was automatically shut down to avoid further safety risks and all four emergency diesel generators that were necessary to maintain reactor safety were started...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Biblis (Hesse)
...As early as the 1960s, the mayor of Biblis, Josef Seib, had been trying to get the municipality to build the nuclear power plant. The nuclear power plant was welcomed for a long time because it was seen as an economic factor; RWE also donated a sports hall to the municipality for eight million German marks. There was initially little opposition to the Biblis-A and -B reactors. This only changed when it became known in 1973 that RWE was planning two additional blocks C and D and had submitted applications for approval for them in 1975. Years of discussion began about the safety of the plant, in particular about the risks of a reactor accident with a core meltdown as a result of an aircraft crash. "Biblis is initially located in a low-level flight training lane and is often directly overflown by fighter jets." Biblis-C and -D were abandoned because of the protests...
2003
November 19, 2003 (INES-2 Class.?) Nuclear factory La Hague, FRA
Release of radioactive radiation into the environment means INES-3 ...
X workers were contaminated with plutonium during cleaning operations.
(Costs ?)
Nuclear Power Accidents
The nuclear chain
The Hague, France
The reprocessing plant in La Hague produces plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear fuel rods. Large quantities of nuclear waste and fissile materials are stored, which greatly increases the risk of plutonium proliferation. In addition, radioactive waste pollutes the sea and the atmosphere. Several studies have already shown an increased incidence of leukemia in children in the La Hague area...
Wikipedia
La Hague reprocessing plant
The highly radioactive substances treated in this reprocessing plant continuously release explosive hydrogen, which, when reacted with oxygen, threatens the building's airtightness. To prevent an explosion, the building's air is continuously circulated to remove hydrogen. For 3,5 hours, this circulation system operated only in normal operation; both backup air lines were unusable due to defects or maintenance work. (Source: ASN)
Greenpeace, under the supervision of a chartered engineer, found that a four-mile long pipe was flushing 400 cubic meters of radioactive sewage per day into the Alderney Strait via Herqueville. This operation is legal, since only the dumping of barrels with nuclear waste in the sea is prohibited, but direct discharge is not ...
Wikipedia
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Nuclear power accidents by country#France
AtomkraftwerkePlag
La Hague (France)
World's largest reprocessing plant
There have been a number of incidents in La Hague since it went into operation.
In November 2001, the European Parliament published a study on the potential toxic effects of the reprocessing plants in La Hague (France) and Sellafield, authored by WISE/Paris under the direction of Mycle Schneider. It concluded that up to that point, both sites had been responsible for the highest human-caused release of radioactivity ever, comparable to one major nuclear accident every year. The release of radioactive substances was possibly twice that after the Chernobyl disaster. A significant increase in leukaemia cases has been observed in the area surrounding both sites; it is considered possible that radioactive emissions from both plants may have contributed to this. At Sellafield, significant concentrations of radionuclides have been detected in food, sediments, flora and fauna. Carbon-14, caesium-137, cobalt-60, iodine-129, plutonium, strontium-90, technetium-99, the latter with a half-life of 214.000 years...
There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:
Sites for uranium enrichment and reprocessing
During reprocessing, the inventory of spent fuel elements can be separated from one another in a complex chemical process (PUREX). Separated uranium and plutonium can then be reused. As far as the theory...
YouTube 7:00
Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium
Reprocessing plants turn a few tons of nuclear waste into many tons of nuclear waste
All uranium and plutonium factories produce radioactive nuclear waste: Uranium processing, enrichment, and reprocessing plants, whether at Hanford, La Hague, Windscale/Sellafield, Mayak, Tokaimura, or elsewhere in the world, all face the same problem: With each processing step, more and more extremely toxic and highly radioactive waste is generated...
August 30, 2003 (Nuclear submarine) submarine accidents, K-159, RUS
Wikipedia
K-159
The K-159 was a nuclear-powered submarine of the Soviet and later Russian Navy. It belonged to the November class. In 2003, the decommissioned submarine sank with nine crew members while being towed for scrap.
[...] Because the K-159 was in poor condition, four large empty tanks had been moored to its hull for years as pontoons to keep the boat afloat. When the boat was towed to a shipyard in Polyarny, these tanks were not removed but left attached to the boat along with their corroded steel cables.
Demise
On August 28, 2003, towing of the submarine was scheduled to begin. There were ten sailors on board. On August 30, the boat suddenly became stern-heavy due to water seeping in through the rotted stuffing boxes. Later, the sea swept away one of the pontoons, which date back to World War II, and the boat sank a few hours later in the 238-meter-deep water. Seven of the crew went down with her, two more were recovered dead, and one sailor survived.
Salvage
In July 2007, the Russian Navy announced its intention to salvage the sunken boat. This hasn't happened yet (as of August 2023) – however, the Russian Navy did have the area surrounding the wreck examined for radioactive contamination in 2014. No elevated radioactivity was detected, although 800 kg of nuclear fuel are still on board...
List of submarine accidents since 1945#2000s
A decommissioned, partially dismantled nuclear submarine sank in stormy weather while being towed to scrap. The skeleton crew on board went down with the submarine.
Bellona
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
January 31, 2018 - Norway: Radiation levels around sunken Russian submarine are currently harmless
A new report by the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority states that radiation levels near a Russian nuclear submarine that sank in the Barents Sea in 2003 with 800 kilograms of uranium in its reactors do not constitute dangerous levels. However, the authority recommended continued monitoring.
A new report by the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority states that radiation levels near a Russian nuclear submarine that sank in the Barents Sea in 2003 with 800 kilograms of uranium in its reactors do not constitute dangerous levels. However, the authority recommended continued monitoring.
The report is based on measurements taken by a joint Norwegian-Russian crew that visited the wreck site three years ago, in 2014. It is part of ongoing efforts to monitor the condition of the enormous quantities of radioactive waste that the Soviets dumped in the northern seas over several decades...
March 18, 2020 - Major European bank could help Russia salvage its sunken nuclear submarines
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has signaled its willingness to assist Russia in recovering Soviet-era radioactive debris, including two sunken nuclear submarines, from the bottom of the Arctic seas.
[ ...] Talks about financing the recovery of these Cold War artifacts have been ongoing since the end of last year, when the Russian government revived long-dormant discussions about recovering the sunken radioactive waste. Alexander Nikitin, head of Bellona's St. Petersburg office, was involved in these talks.
According to the Russian government's official website on submarine decommissioning programs, the plan to procure the submarines was presented at the EBRD's donor meeting in December. The project cost was estimated at €300 million...
April 10, 2003 (INES-3 NAMS 3,9) NPP Paks, HUN
During cleaning work in Unit 2 of the Paks nuclear power plant, the cladding of some fuel rods was damaged. This resulted in... 360 TBq radioactive gas.
(Cost approx. US$ 43 million)
Nuclear Power Accidents
Wikipedia
Paks Nuclear Power Plant#Incidents
During cleaning work in Block 2 of the Paks nuclear power plant, the cladding of fuel rods was damaged. Radioactive gas escaped, causing a "serious incident" (INES 3). No one was injured in this accident. However, the measuring probes in the area registered noble gas contamination above the limit values...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Paks (Hungary)
In 2003, a serious INES level 2 accident occurred at reactor 3, in which several fuel elements were damaged during cleaning and radioactive gas leaked out. No one was injured, but the reactor could not be put back into operation until four years later. An IAEA report stated that increased radiation was initially detected in a cleaning basin near the reactor core and the cleaning system was opened. "It turned out that the majority of the 30 fuel elements had overheated and were severely damaged or melted due to a lack of cooling." The damaged fuel elements were transported by rail to Mayak in Russia in August 2014, without the public being informed at the time...
2002
22 November 2002 (INES-2) NPP Tihange, BEL
During the incident, a pressure relief valve was accidentally opened. This led to a rapid pressure drop in the primary cooling circuit and consequently to a reduction in the circuit's ability to dissipate heat from the reactor.
(Costs ?)
Nuclear Power Accidents
Wikipedia
Tihange Nuclear Power Plant#Incidents, damage and reactions
On November 22, 2002, an incident occurred in Unit 2 (INES 2). The reactor - which was shut down at the time and no longer critical - was still producing decay heat, which was dissipated by circulating coolant in the primary circuit, as in power operation. During a test, a safety valve on the pressurizer was opened by mistake, causing the pressure in the primary circuit to drop very quickly from 155 bar to 85 bar. The high pressure in the primary circuit during operation means that the water does not boil, even at high temperatures, but remains liquid. If the pressure drops, the boiling point of the water also drops. The decay heat of the fuel elements can then no longer be removed, and there is a risk of a core meltdown. In this specific case, due to the rapid drop in pressure, several safety systems were activated, which pumped water into the primary circuit and thus continued to cool the fuel elements. The pressure relief valve that had been opened by mistake was closed again after three minutes...
List of nuclear power plants in Belgium
As of June 2023, 2 reactor units with a total installed net capacity of 5 MW are in operation at 3928 locations in Belgium; 3 units at 3 locations with a total installed net capacity of 2024 MW have already been permanently shut down. The first commercially used reactor unit went into operation in 1962.
In Belgium, a total of 2011 billion kWh (net) were generated in nuclear power plants in 45,9, meaning that nuclear energy accounted for 54 percent of total electricity generation. In 2022, 41,617 billion kWh were generated, meaning that it accounted for 46,4 percent of total electricity generation.
Wikipedia
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Nuclear power accidents by country#Belgium
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Tihange (Belgium)#Incidents
The most dangerous incident, classified as INES level 2, occurred in 2002:
Due to an accidentally opened valve, the pressure in the primary circuit at the Tihange nuclear power plant dropped and cooling water evaporated. If the safety systems had not reacted, this could have resulted in a core meltdown...
[...] Cracks in the reactor vessel
In February 2015, it was announced that there were not just 3 but 2 cracks in the reactor pressure vessels of the Doel-10.000 and Tihange-16.000 units, which were probably caused by material fatigue. The Belgian nuclear regulator feared a problem for the entire nuclear industry worldwide...
March 8, 2002 (INES-3) NPP Davis Besse, OH, USA
Severe corrosion of reactor head control rod drives forces 24-month shutdown of Davis-Besse reactor.
(Cost approx. US$ 167 million)
Nuclear Power Accidents
Wikipedia
Davis Besse Nuclear Power Plant#Incidents
In March 2002, a long-delayed inspection revealed that boric acid had leaked from the reactor near a control rod duct on the reactor pressure vessel cover. The boric acid is used to control the reactor and is added to the coolant. However, the acid reacts very aggressively to heavy metals. As a result, there was severe corrosion on the reactor lid, so that only a few millimeters thin layer of the inner lid lining remained. Experts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory then calculated that in the worst case, it would have taken another five months for a large leak to form in the reactor head...
Wikipedia
Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Nuclear reactor accidents in the United States
Severe boric acid corrosion on the reactor head forces the Davis-Besse reactor to be shut down for 24 months.
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Davis-Besse (USA)#Corrosion of the reactor pressure vessel (serious incident)
A serious level 1 incident occurred at Davis-Besse-2002 in 3, which exemplifies the interplay of material weaknesses, poor safety culture and carelessly implemented controls. A serious nuclear accident only happened because of a coincidence ...
21 January 2002 (INES-2) NPP Flamanville, FRA
Control systems and safety valves failed after improper installation of condensers, forcing a two-month shutdown.
(Cost approx. US$ 119 million)
Nuclear Power Accidents
Wikipedia
Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant
On January 21, 2002, incorrect installation of capacitors caused errors in the control system and safety valves. The cost of the incident is estimated at $119 million...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2
On January 21, 2001 (?) a process control system failed in Flamanville-2 due to an error during maintenance work. A chain of irregularities and damage to various systems followed ...
2001
December 14, 2001 (INES Class.?) NPP Brunsbuettel, Germany
A hydrogen explosion severely damaged the boiling water reactor's spray system line. Some
Pipes with a diameter of 5,6 mm were broken. A 2,7 m long section of pipe had burst. and was completely destroyed.
(Costs ?)
Nuclear Power Accidents
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Brunsbüttel (Schleswig-Holstein)
On December 14, 2001, another hydrogen explosion occurred, destroying a cooling line and endangering reactor pressure and containment vessels. Since the operator only reported the incident three days later, "the Federal Environment Ministry expressed doubts about the reliability of the operator" - a threat to withdraw the operating license." The safety team refused to shut down the reactor for an inspection and downplayed the damage for two months. Vattenfall stuck to its cover-up tactics and, in order to reassure the population, set up a "commission of experts" made up of nuclear power supporters. The Schleswig-Holstein nuclear regulator created a detailed list with several hundred defects, but it was not allowed to be published due to legal resistance from Vattenfall. The report was also not handed over to German Environmental Aid.
The nuclear-critical doctors' organization IPPNW accused Vattenfall of not responding adequately with retrofitting and safety measures to the hydrogen explosions in the Brunsbüttel and Krümmel nuclear power plants (Schleswig-Holstein), and of the Schleswig-Holstein state government of lying to parliament. The company and the state government rejected the allegations.
Wikipedia
Brunsbüttel nuclear power plant
A high-profile incident occurred on December 14, 2001, when an oxyhydrogen explosion during ongoing operation damaged a pipe connected to the reactor pressure vessel. The resulting loss of cooling water was stopped by closing an undamaged shutoff valve. Although an explosion detector triggered during the incident and several other monitoring devices briefly delivered readings at the end of their scale, the operators interpreted the incident as a non-reportable "spontaneous leak" in a non-safety-critical plant component. The reactor continued to operate at full capacity for several weeks without further investigation.
As required by the Atomic Energy Act, the readings from the monitoring devices are transmitted directly to the responsible ministry in Kiel, where they are recorded. Analysis of this data prompted the ministry to request a statement from the operator. After the operators' interpretation ("spontaneous leakage") failed to plausibly explain the recorded data, the ministry demanded, with increasing urgency, an inspection of the reactor to clarify the process. Only after the threat of a formal order did the operators agree to carry out this inspection on February 21, 2002. During this inspection, it was discovered that the cover shower pipe (100 mm in diameter) had cracked and was missing over a distance of approximately two meters.
The cause of the explosion was oxyhydrogen gas, which is produced by radiolysis in all boiling water reactors during regular operation. The risk that the gas could collect in the pipe leading from the reactor lid and explode had been overlooked in the safety assessments. In February 2003, the Brunsbüttel nuclear power plant was able to resume operation. The other boiling water reactors in Germany were investigated for the possibility of similar explosions...
SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...
November 16, 2001 (INES Class.?) Research reactor HFR in Petten, Netherlands
According to a report by a former employee, an officially concealed incident occurred at the High Flux Reactor on November 16, 2001.
(Costs ?)
Nuclear Power Accidents
Wikipedia
Institute of Energy
As part of the EURATOM treaty, the Netherlands and the then EURATOM Commission signed the treaty establishing the European research center in 1961, which was opened in Petten in 1962. It took over the high-flux reactor for materials research that had gone into operation the previous year and is now used primarily for the production of medical isotopes...
According to the report of the former IE director Frans Saris, on November 16, 2001 there was an officially concealed incident (Station Blackout = total power failure) at the High Flux Reactor, in which one was only just about to meltdown. Due to a failure of the external power supply, the pumps that are used to cool the reactor were suddenly without power. After that, the emergency power supply also failed, and due to the inadequate power supply, the operators had great difficulty opening a valve that is used for passive emergency cooling ...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Netherlands
In 1955 the construction of the High Flux Reactor (HFR) in Petten was started, with which one wanted to gain experience with atomic energy ...
In December 2021, the new government announced that it would build two new nuclear power plants and provide five billion euros for them. In addition, the term of the Borssele nuclear power plant is to be extended. The reasons given were climate change and an increase in the security of supply with energy ...
SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...
August 12, 2001 (INES-2 Class.?) NPP Phillipsburg, GER
A deviation from the prescribed boron concentration was reported to the authorities. In addition, the liquid level had not reached the value stipulated in the start-up operating instructions and was only implemented with a delay. Subsequent investigations revealed that significant deviations from the commissioning requirements and violations of the relevant instructions have probably been common for several years.
(Costs ?)
Nuclear Power Accidents
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Philippsburg (Baden-Wuerttemberg)
Philippsburg II was started up in August 2001 with a defective emergency cooling system. Although the defect was discovered two weeks later, the reactor remained in operation illegally. It was later discovered that the emergency cooling system had not been sufficiently filled for years. It should be added that the operator had not reported this incident in 2001 to the supervisory authority. In November 2001, the Stuttgart Ministry of the Environment reported that contaminated water had leaked out of Philippsburg I due to a defect in a valve for operational drainage...
Wikipedia
Philippsburg Nuclear Power Plant#Operational disruptions and incidents
At the Philippsburg nuclear power plant, the operating team failed to see that the emergency cooling system did not meet the requirements of the operating manual when block 2 was started up. The emergency cooling system was sufficient to cool the cold and uncritical reactor. After restarting the reactor, the emergency cooling system was upgraded to the extent required by the limit values. However, the incident mentioned below occurred. The coolant, which is buffered in the flood tanks (emergency cooling system) of the nuclear power plant, fell below the permissible boron concentration. Three of the four existing containers were affected. As a result of these events, the power plant manager and two board members of the operator EnBW lost their jobs.
2000
Aug 12, 2000 (Broken Arrow) submarine accidents, K-141 Kursk, Russia
Der Spiegel
DISASTERS
A big bluff
The nuclear submarine "Kursk" that sank off Murmansk is back home. Documents that surfaced in Moscow suggest that Russia's fleet accidentally sank the high-tech ship itself.
The bow section, and thus the entire torpedo assembly, was left behind on the seabed during the salvage operation. The official Russian account was adopted almost unchanged in Wikipedia.
Wikipedia
List of U-boat accidents since 1945
Nuclear submarine. Sank after one of its own torpedoes exploded on board. Mostly raised and scrapped in 2001. The entire crew perished.
Kursk (submarine)
The Kursk, K-141, was a Russian nuclear submarine of Project 1990A (NATO code Oscar II class) built in 1991/949 and equipped with anti-ship missiles.
When it sank in the Barents Sea in 2000 as a result of an explosion presumably caused by a technical defect, the Russian military initially claimed that the Kursk had been rammed by a US submarine. The Russian Navy did not have a special rescue submarine that had rescue locks or robotic arms compatible with the Kursk, but only diving capsules. The hesitant Russian information policy, the initially unsuccessful rescue attempts by the poorly equipped Russian Navy to open the exit hatch with the help of Norwegian divers, and the skepticism of Russian naval officers as to whether it was still possible to open the allegedly damaged exit hatch, led to a serious delay and to the very late acceptance of foreign offers of help.
After time-consuming failed attempts, Norwegian divers, now operating from their own dive platform, managed to open the inner hatch three days after their arrival and more than a week after the explosion. They had to realize that there could be no survivors because all sections were already flooded. However, Norwegian officer Erland Raanes testified that, contrary to claims by Russian naval officers, no damage was found to the exit hatch. The Russian government then asked the Norwegian government to carry out the recovery of the bodies.
It later emerged that around 23 crew members had survived and managed to escape to the rearmost section, where the emergency exit hatches were. A fallen CO2 filter that came into contact with water or oil caused a chemical reaction that led to a fire. This consumed the remaining oxygen in the air and the men suffocated.
[...] Salvage
After the use of diving robots, divers began in July 2001 to mark the places on the wreck where holes were to be drilled for the ropes to lift the wreck. The ship was raised by the Dutch companies Mammoet and Smit Internationale on October 8, 2001. Previously, the bow with the torpedo section had been separated from the rest of the ship underwater. The wire saw used for this purpose was manufactured by a Krefeld company. This wire saw consisted of sleeves coated with JG-DUR hard metal. With the help of the Giant-4 pontoon, the deep-sea tug Singapore towed the Kursk to the port of Roslyakovo (♁69° 4′ N, 33° 12′ E). There it was brought to the floating dock PD-50 and scrapped. The Kursk is the only one of the five sunken Soviet-built nuclear submarines that was raised. K-8 (1970, located at a depth of 4500 m), K-219 (1986, 5500 m), Komsomolets (1989, 1850 m) and K-159 (2003, 240 m) also sank.
July 5, 2000 (INES Class.?) NPP Grafenrheinfeld, DEU
Wikipedia
Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant
On July 5, 2000, there was a fire at the nuclear power plant, which damaged the motor of a main coolant pump in the immediate vicinity of the reactor pressure vessel...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Grafenrheinfeld (Bavaria)
In the summer of 1973, Bayernwerk AG submitted an application to build and operate the Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant, which was followed by partial approval from the Bavarian state government in the summer of 1974. Despite bitter resistance from the population and a collection of signatures, construction work began in 1974/75 and the nuclear power plant was put into operation on December 9, 1981...
SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world
»A cold shiver runs down my spine«
Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...
June 26, 2000 (INES-1 Class.?) NPP Grafenrheinfeld, DEU
Wikipedia
Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant
On June 26, 2000, an INES level 1 incident occurred at the nuclear power plant. During the annual inspection, defects were found in five of eight control valves that had been installed a year earlier. During the production of the bushings, contamination occurred and corrosion occurred on the bushings due to the effects of humidity during a long system shutdown, which affected the smooth movement of the valve spindles. This defect was classified as INES level 1 because several components in similar facilities with the same safety functions were affected...
AtomkraftwerkePlag
Grafenrheinfeld (Bavaria)
On October 28, 2010, because of the susceptibility to faults, resolutions were passed in numerous towns and communities in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant in which an extension of the operating life of the Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant was rejected, without success.
Shortly after the Fukushima disaster, the reactor was shut down and underwent maintenance. A crack was discovered in a thermal protection pipe in the cooling system, whereupon the opposition in the Bavarian state parliament accused the government and E.ON of covering up the matter for months.
In view of the breakdown statistics and other incidents, the reactor should not have been temporarily taken off the grid, but rather permanently, as the Schweinfurt city council also demanded in a resolution. In April 2012, as in the Brokdorf nuclear power plant, broken retaining springs on fuel elements were found at the reactor...
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