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Investigation into near nuclear accident in Sweden

No thanks | 23.08.2006 10:16 | Ecology

On 25 July 2006 the nuclear reactor at Forsmark (Sweden) reached a near meltdown, which would have caused an accident on the scale of Chernobyl. An investigation has now been carried out.

The incident alarmed anti-nuclear campaigners in Europe and the Swedish public, however, it was not reported on by the mainstream media anywhere outside Sweden. This is surprising given the resurgence of nuclear power in recent years.

The nuclear power station had to be taken off the grid, alongside 3 other reactors in Sweden which were deemed to dangerous to be operated until an investigation had been carried out

Looks like we were lucky this time round.



Here is the report on the investigation (from 3 Aug):

SKI-investigation of Forsmark 1
Due to the problems during the scram of the Forsmark unit 1 reactor on 25 July SKI has conducted a preliminary investigation in order to get an independent picture of the sequence of events, consequences and actions taken.
Based on this preliminary investigation it appears that Forsmark Kraftgrupp AB (FKA) have handled the situation in a correct manner.

Due to the complicated sequence of events at Forsmark 1, SKI personnel were sent to the site to collect information on the course of events. The investigation team also made a judgement of what analyses that FKA must at least include in their report to SKI in order to make a correct safety evaluation and a decision concerning restart of the unit.
The investigation team concluded that FKA actively processed available information in order to find the cause of the event and to work out actions to be taken to handle the problems. SKI concluded that the FKA assessment of the gravity of the situation was correct as important safety related equipment failed to work.

Description of the event
After the electricity failure caused by the short circuit in the switchyard the Forsmark 1 reactor was scrammed and a number of safety systems were activated. The reactor being shut down could be concluded by the surveillance systems but the indication of the position of the control rods was unclear due to lack of power supply. The emergency cooling system did for a short period of time pump water into the reactor vessel. Also the water spraying system in the containment was activated. The personnel kept watch over the water level and were prepared to activate further safety actions in case the water level should decrease further. After 23 minutes the two remaining diesel generators were started and the water spraying was terminated.

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  1. Worrying silence about Forsmark — Ian Fiddies