Unexpected Shutdown of Cernavoda Nuke Plant in Romania -Registered radiation in Switzerland

“Switzerland registered a 2 microsievert/hour peak before 10.00 am 08/11/2012

There is a suspicious switch off on the monitor for the day before..

The emissions from this plant were lofted high and reached the Swiss alps”

[…]

“did not effect the safety of the population or the environment”, says the Government

[…]

8 November 2012

The same refrain (or the famous last word), the world over.

Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant has two CANDU pressurized heavy water reactors.

The reactor 2, which unexpectedly shut down on Wednesday, will be restarted on Friday. The report is due in 48 hours (that’s Friday).

According to the Romanian report below, “the unit shut down automatically as a result of an automatic rapid closure system having unexpectedly gone up”. (Now, do I have to study CANDU reactors, too? I have no idea what this means.)

From ACT Media (11/8/2012):

Unexpected shutdown of Cernavoda n-plant’s unit 2 did not affect safety of people or the environment

The unexpected shutdown on Wednesday of unit 2 of the Cernavoda nuclear-power plant did not effect the safety of the population or the environment, the Ministry of the Environment and Forestry (MMP) reports in a press release.

‘Information coming from the National Environmental Protection Agency indicates that the automated gamma radiation monitoring devices do not show any increase in the normal values, while the results of the measurements fall within the limits of the natural fund,’ reads the release.

The devices monitor the radiation 24/7, and in this instance the normal radiation level was not exceeded.

The unexpected shutdown of the unit did not affect the safety of the plant’s staff, the population or the environment, and the causes behind the malfunction will be the subject of a detailed analysis, MMP says in the release.

Radiation monitoring will continue, says MMP and any excess radiation will be notified to the National Environmental Guard and jointly analysed.

The Nuclearelectrica National Nuclear Power Corporation announced unit 2 of the Cernavoda nuclear-power plant shut down unexpectedly on Wednesday at 11:300hrs, EET, and it will be restarted on Friday.

The unit shut down automatically as a result of an automatic rapid closure system having unexpectedly gone up. The causes for the closure are being investigated according to the procedures of the plant.

The unit is safely down and it will be restarted as soon as the exact causes behind the malfunction are found.

State secretary with the Economy Ministry Rodin Traicu said a report on the unexpected shutdown on Wednesday of unit 2 of the Cernavoda nuclear-power plant will be ready in 48 hours, but the incident did not pose any risk to nuclear activity.

From the wiki on the plant:

“The Nuclear Power Plant in Cernavodă (Romanian: Centrala Nucleară de la Cernavodă) is a nuclear power plant in Romania. It produces around 20% of the country’s electricity. It uses CANDU reactor technology from AECL, using heavy water produced at Drobeta-Turnu Severin as its neutron moderator and water from the Danube – Black Sea Canal for cooling.

“By using nuclear power, Romania is able to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by over 10 million tonnes each year.[citation needed]”