Finnish nuclear power plant had minor water leaks

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Finnish nuclear power plant had minor water leaks
  
HELSINKI (Reuters) - A Finnish nuclear power station had a mildly 
radioactive water leak Friday morning, the second such minor 
incident at the plant in two days, the country's nuclear safety 
officials said. 

The Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) said that the 
leaks inside the Loviisa power plant, located about 45     miles east 
of Helsinki, had not posed any risk to the plant's personnel or the 
surrounding environment. 

A STUK official told Reuters that the authority was still waiting for 
exact radiation measurements from Loviisa, but the recurrence of 
the problems prompted it to issue an ``INES 1,'' the lowest 
international radiation safety warning. 

An operational error resulted in 10 cubic meters of ``mildly 
radioactive'' water leaking into the plant's containment building 
during tests on the fuel rod cooling system, officials said. 

The mishap occurred after 20 cubic meters of radioactive water 
flowed onto the floor of one of the facility's buildings during testing 
of the same system Thursday, officials said. 

Measures had been taken to reduce the likelihood of incidents 
caused by human error, the authority said. 

The Loviisa plant is one of two nuclear power facilities in Finland, 
each with two power units. 

The Loviisa plant's unit number 1, where the incidents happened, 
has been at a standstill since July because of annual safety 
checks and the closure will now be prolonged slightly, the STUK 
official said. 

The second unit was operating normally and STUK did not expect 
the incident to affect power generation at Loviisa. 
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