FW: Leningrad NPP [2]

["Tsurikov, Nick" <nick.tsurikov@iluka.com>]

Sorry, the "from" bug strikes again...

-----Original Message-----
From:	Tsurikov, Nick 
Sent:	Saturday, 12 August 2000 19:07
To:	'RADSAFE'
Subject:	Leningrad NPP

Dear Radsafers,
Yesterday's "St. Petersburg Times":
1.	http://www.sptimes.ru/current/news/n_city.htm
<http://www.sptimes.ru/current/news/n_city.htm> 
	...
	<LAST PARAGRAPH>
	Security forces will also be focusing efforts on the very vulnerable
Leningrad Atomic Energy Station, or LAES, in Sosnovy Bor. According to
police, no one will be allowed in or out of the town - a closed zone
requiring a special pass to enter - until further notice.

2.	http://www.sptimes.ru/current/news/n_laes.htm
<http://www.sptimes.ru/current/news/n_laes.htm> 

LAES Says Alarm Was Harmless Malfunction 
By Lena Sotnikova and Charles Digges, SPECIAL TO THE ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
Officials at the Leningrad Atomic Energy Station said on Tuesday that a
false alarm had triggered a radiation safety system in the plant's dormant
No. 4 reactor and that there was no danger to the public. Karl Rendel, the
spokesman for the plant, confirmed the apparent malfunction of the safety
system to Interfax and said it "in no way reflects the condition of energy
block No. 4., because it has for the past two years been under maintenance."
"The operation of the defense system is not even an incident," said Rendel
in remarks reported by the agency. The alarm was discovered at about 5:30
a.m., Rendel said.
He offered no explanation for the malfunction, and despite repeated attempts
neither he nor other plant authorities would elaborate. On Tuesday, the
plant foreman on duty at the time of the apparently false alarm - who would
not be identified - said that radiation levels in No. 4 remained stable and
safe. According to the plant's Web site (www.laes.sbor.ru
<http://www.laes.sbor.ru> ) the safety system that was activated Tuesday
morning was the AZ-5, which - when triggered by high radiation levels -
shuts down an entire reactor, said Russian nuclear industry expert Igor
Kudrik of the Bellona Foundation in Norway.
Olli Vilkamo, head of the Nuclear Safety Unit of the Finnish Nuclear
Regulatory Commission said the system could have been triggered by a
cleaning of the reactor's fuel core. This can raise radiation levels in the
reactor that would set off the AZ-5 system. He added there was likely posed
no danger.
The Leningrad Atomic Energy Station, or LAES, is located 80 kilometers west
of St. Petersburg in the town of Sosnovy Bor and operates on four
Chernobyl-style RBMK-1000 reactors that went into service 27 years ago. They
were built to operate for 10. The terse explanation of the incident by
Rendel, and the refusal to comment by other LAES authorities unsettled many
ecologists who recall past cover-ups that were initially explained as minor
safety issues - if they were even explained at all.
In 1992, a reactor accident at LAES sent a cloud of radioactivity over
northern Europe. Though the radiation was picked up by sensors in
Scandinavia and reported by the foreign press, LAES denied the incident. And
in 1998, LAES's reactor No.2 was shut down twice because of leaks. Plant
officials vociferously denied this only to admit to the leaks three months
later.
Sergei Kharitonov, a former nuclear-waste engineer at the plant, said the
plants culture of silence prevents reliable information from reaching the
public. "It is not unusual for the workers to know absolutely nothing of
these incidents," said Kharitonov.
He added that a malfunction like Tuesday's would "not be anything new."
Bellona's Kudrik was also not inclined to accept the plant's sanguine
explanation of Tuesday's event. "If such a malfunction can occur with such
an important warning device, it doesn't bode well for the effectiveness of
the safety system," said Kudrik. At present much of LAES is undergoing a
retrofitting that will supposedly extend the life of its reactors for
another 10 years in a process Rendel said would be completed by 2002 for a
cost of about $900 million.
<<<<<<<<<<<

Kind regards
Nick Tsurikov
Eneabba, Western Australia
http://eneabba.net/ <http://eneabba.net/> 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html