Sunday, 23 November 2008
Hungary's only nuclear power plant, south of Budapest on the Danube in Paks, last Friday applied to the National Atomic Energy Office (OAH) for a 20-year extension to the working life of its four reactors. Spokesman István Mittler told state news agency MTI that the 30-year lifespan of the four reactors is due to expire between 2012 and 2017. The plan to extend the lifespan of Soviet-era pressurised water reactors was drawn up with the help of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the OAH.
Paks
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Nuclear plant asks for 20-year extension
Wednesday, November 26, 2008Incident in Hungarian nuclear plant due to maintenance error
Tuesday, July 8, 2008Budapest/Vienna - Faulty maintenance procedures led to an incident in the Hungarian nuclear power plant in Paks on Monday, but no radioactivity was released, a report by Hungarian authorities to the UN nuclear agency said. It was the second incident in Paks caused by human error since 2006, the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority said in its report to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
On Monday morning, two workers failed to properly seal an air- locked area during maintenance of the first unit of the power plant, 100 kilometres south of Budapest.
 INES 1 |
Deterioration of the containment depression of unit 1 during an air locking operation for maintenance activities |
During the morning shift on 07/07/2008, two workers, involved in the maintenance of safety valves, were instructed to repair a leakage at a safety valve in the cooling water system of the recirculation fans used for cooling the containment air space of Unit 1. The entry to the room is possible through an air-lock. The air-locking operations were carried out by the two workers, having entrance permit to the area, by disregarding the relevant regulations.
Ukraine's nuclear authorities are playing with fire
Wednesday, April 2, 2008MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Tatyana Sinitsyna) - Ukrainian politicians have made one more move aimed at easing their dependence on Russia's nuclear fuel supplies.
In late March, Ukraine's nuclear power company Energoatom signed a five-year contract with U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Company to provide nuclear fuel to three Ukrainian reactors at the Yuzhnoukrainsky nuclear power plant in 2011-2015.
Companies want to look green, but old habits persist
Sunday, March 4, 2007While Hungarian citizens are getting more conscious about environmental issues and more interested in companies’ environmental record, an environmentally responsible image often remains an empty PR exercise, said Greenpeace spokesperson Szabina Mózes. “It looks interesting when we see an advertisement in which the Paks Nuclear Plant Zrt is photographed in a beautiful green environment, saying that this is ‘The energy of the future,’ but it’s hardly believable that nuclear energy is a clean solution.” Paks Nuclear Power Plant Zrt has also sponsored radio programs dedicated to environmental issues; positive action to be sure, Mózes opined, but such activities do not make nuclear energy environmentally friendly, nor do people believe they do. Mózes went on to say that such PR efforts may even result in a growing skepticism of consumers who have already learned not to believe in advertising.
INES 1 |
Temperature increase of control rod drive housing 6/7 during restart of Unit 4 |
On 22/06/2006 Unit 4 was in operational state E1 (232 oC). At 06:30 while monitoring computer displays after shift turnover the reactor operator discovered that the temperature of CRD housing 6/7 exceeded the limit specified in TS 5.4.1.2.2 (max. 100 oC-5 min). Subsequently, the operator lowered the CR drives from lower end switch into lower end stop by manual scram, thereby deenergizing them. 4 out of 6 RCPs which had been operating until that time, were shut down (RCPs 2,4,5,6).
INES 3 |
Incremented radioactivity of the heat carrier during refueling outage at a time of fuel cleaning |
On 10th April 2003 during the annual refueling outage of unit the fuel assemblies cleaning were in progress. At 22:30 normal dosimetry systems of the exhaust stack showed a sudden increase in released noble gas activity (max. 4,14*10e13 Bq/10 min), at the same time, radiation monitors for noble gas activity in the reactor hall indicated alarm level. As a result of conducted technical actions the releases were reduced below the autorized limit.
INES 0 |
Fire in the A110/2 cable corridor |
On 22/06/2001 at 11:21 fire alarm signal was annunciated on unit 2, from the three reactor building cable rooms A110/2, A018/2 and A019/2. Immediate actions were taken to inspect the rooms. Meanwhile failure signals were received from some affected busses and at 11:34 RCP 6 tripped. At 11:35 fire fighting was commenced with the installed fire water system. At 11:40 unit power reduction was started, at 11:50 the turbines were tripped. Due to failure on temperature measuring circuits of the bearing of RCPs 2 and 4, these pumps were stopped.
INES 2 |
Sticking of one control rod during reactor protection actuation after the turbine control system's test |
On 20 August 1997 at 02:30 tests of the modified turbine controller were being carried out and for this reason three out of six main coolant pumps were switched off. Reloading of the reactor and the turbines occurred as expected. At 02:33 unexpedcted level increase in one of the six steam generators (SG) was observed. The level increase continued though the level interlock actuated properly and operator action was carried out. At 02:37 unit protection on high SG level actuated that caused the trip of both operating turbines and consequently reactor protection actuated.
INES 2 |
Degradation of the control rod system due to sticking of one control rod assembly |
On 8 November 1995 at 00:10 on Unit 2 the functioning test of one of the control rods (No. 6/7) was being conducted because some deficiency in the control of the concerned control rod was suspected. During the test when the control rod was dropped from the upper end position it became stuck in a position 200-225 cm and further movement of the rod was not possible. According to the Technical Specifications the unit was shut down, the control rods were moved to the lower end position, the boration and cooling of the reactor was commenced in order to start the elimination of the problem.
