[ RadSafe ] The incident at Forsmark 1 in Sweden

[Lars Persson]

The incident was classified by the Swedish nuclear authority - SKI as 2 on
the IAEA scale- Harrisburg as 5 and Tjernobyl as 7.
See www.ski.se.

Not true: "Swedish nuclear energy expert Lars-Olov Högland, head of the
construction department at Swedish utility company Vattenfall -- and
onetime boss at the Forsmark reactor."
Lars Persson
Slånbärsv 11A
19334 Sigtuna
08-568 219 26

0708-297100



-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl]On
Behalf Of Maury Siskel
Sent: den 6 augusti 2006 03:49
To: radsafe
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Nuclear Mishap; A Close Call with Catastrophe in
Sweden?



SPIEGEL ONLINE - August 4, 2006, 03:19 PM
URL: http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,430164,00.html

Nuclear Mishap

A Close Call with Catastrophe in Sweden?

An observer has called last week's mishap in Sweden the worst incident
to befall a nuclear power plant since the accident at Chernobyl. Nobody
was injured, but for 22 minutes, workers had no idea what was happening
in the reactor's core. Swedish officials have taken half the country's
nuclear power plants offline until it can ensure their safe operation.

Sweden's nuclear power station in Forsmark: the worst nuclear incident
since Chernobyl and Harrisburg?
DPA

Sweden's nuclear energy authority, SKI, has largely completed its
reconstruction of events in an accident last week that led to the
closure of a nuclear power plant in the city of Forsmark and,
ultimately, the shutdown of half the country's nuclear plants as a
precautionary measure. In the incident, two of the plant's four backup
generators malfunctioned when the plant experienced a major power outage
on July 25. According to officials, who described the event as
"serious," a short-circuit triggered the accident, which caused a cut in
power to the nuclear facility. Plant workers told Swedish media that it
came close to a meltdown.

In fact, the only thing that appears to have stopped a catastrophe is
the fact that two diesel backup generators kicked in, enabling the
Forsmark facility to operate at least part of its emergency cooling
system. Still, for 20 minutes, workers were unable to obtain information
about the condition of the reactor and they were only able to respond
after 21 minutes and 41 seconds, according to a report in Germany's
Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper.

Swedish media are reporting that a previously unknown technical problem
emerged during the emergency that could also be present in all other
Swedish nuclear reactors.

In its first report, nuclear authority SKI claimed that operators of the
nuclear plant had reacted correctly during the emergency. "In my
opinion, the media is exaggerating the issue," said Jan Blomstrang, a
member of SKI's committee for reactor security. The two generators that
were still operating, he said, could have provided sufficient energy for
the reactors if it had been necessary. The agency is expected to release
a comprehensive report in the coming days.

On Thursday, Swedish officials shut down two further nuclear power
plants as a safety precaution. Plant operators said the move was
necessary because they could not guarantee the security of nuclear
facilities in the city of Oskarshamm. A spokesman for the company that
operates the Oskarshamm plant said he could not rule out the possibility
of an incident happening like that at Forsmark.

After an emergency meeting of SKI officials, spokesman Anders Bredfall
said that both nuclear power plants in Oskarshamm would be taken offline
until investigators were able to deteremine whether the backup
generators at that plant could fail in the same way as those in Forsmark.

Official: Worst incident since Chernobyl

Swedish nuclear energy expert Lars-Olov Högland, head of the
construction department at Swedish utility company Vattenfall -- and
onetime boss at the Forsmark reactor -- has described last week's
problems as the "worst incident since Chernobyl and Harrisburg," a
reference to the 1979 meltdown at Three-Mile Island in Pennsylvania. He
accused the plant's operators of trying to play down the seriousness of
the event. For their part, officials at Swedish nuclear authority SKI
have rejected Högland's assessment, describing it as "exaggerated."

Following the latest shutdowns, only five of Sweden's 10 nuclear power
plants are still operating. Nuclear power accounts for close to half of
the electricity produced in Sweden and the shutdowns triggered record
price increases. But the Swedish government's energy agency said the
nation's electricity supply was not currently at great risk because it
can rely more on hydropower during the summer months.

Sweden is in the process of abandoning nuclear energy -- a policy that
has led to the shut down of two of the country's total of 12 plants
since 1999. However, against a backdrop of concerns about climate change
and energy dependency, recent public opinion polls indicate that an
increasing number of Swedes would like to go on using nuclear power.

dsl/reuters/afp/ap

© SPIEGEL ONLINE 2006
All Rights Reserved

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