Norwegian radiation authorities issue lightning fast permit for reactivationof a leaking reactor

["Gerry Blackwood" <gpblackwood@justice.com>]

UPDATED: February 1, 2004



http://www.bellona.no/en/international/russia/nuke_industry/32415.html



Norwegian radiation authorities issue lightning fast permit for

reactivation of a leaking reactor 



Norway.s Halden reactor, which has been under repair for more

than six months, was allowed to go back online, despite an

acknowledgement from the reactor.s owner, the Institute for

Energy Technology, or IFE, that it is still leaking more than two

litres of radioactive heavy water a day, Bellona has learned. 



Halden's reactor was closed for six months for repairs after a

leak in its coolant system was discovered.  

Bellona  

 

Erik Martiniussen, Charles Digges, 2004-01-31 17:55



The Halden reactor, located southeast of Oslo near the Swedish

border, was shut down after the detection of five fissures in the

reactors coolant circuit. The NOK 10m repair job to fix the leaks

began in October. A recent document from IFE to the Norwegian

Radiation Protection Authority, or NRPA indicated that, in spite

of the extensive repairs, the reactor continues to leak heavy

water, according to documents obtained by Bellona last week. 



Notwithstanding the fact that it possessed this information, the

NRPA issued a permit to reactive the reactor. 



But Ole Reistad, head of section at the NRPA, said in a telephone

interview with Bellona that emissions from the reactor were well

within saftey norms. 



"The reactor's leaks are about one fifth of [the levels] that

would be cause for warning," he said. 



Halden leaks two litres of heavy water every 24 hours

According to IFE documents the reactor leaks .heavy water from

the primary circuits through the sockets and caulking during a

normal run.. These leakages vary between 70ml and 120ml an hour..

This means the Halden reactor can leak more than two litres of

heavy water every 24 hours. 



The IFE added in its documentation indicated that the leakages

could even increase in the near future because the sleeve piping

is dry. This is because the sockets are dry and might let more

heavy water through. The IFE wrote that it will cool the reactor

if the leakages levels increase, but gave no indication as to

what volume of leakage it considers to be too high. 



Heavy water leakages lead to the emission of radioactive tritium

into the air. Radioactive tritium is an isotope of hydrogen gas

which liberates radioactive beta radiation. This might be the

cause of the relatively high tritium emissions from the Halden

reactor during the first quarter of last year. During the first

three months of 2003, Halden recorded tritium emissions of 23

TBq.more than half the tritium emissions during the whole of

2002. 



There is only one other reactor in the world that is comparable

to Halden in disposition.Canada.s NRU reactor, which is older

than the Halden reactor and slated for closure in 2005. 



Other reactors older than the Halden reactor are so-called zero-

or low-level research reactors, which are reactors made for open

basins, with an output that hardly brings water to the boil.

Halden, which has an output of 25 megawatts, operates at 30.7

bars of pressure and a temperature of 235 degrees, Celsius. The

reactor has been in operation for 45 years. 



Foot-Dragging at NRPA

The IFE received NOK 25m in annual government support, but it

remains unclear if the company received any extra grants or

government subsidies for the repair work. 



Bellona has carefully monitored the repair work at the reactor,

and has requested at an early stage during the overhaul to be

informed about if or when the reactor would be reactivated.

Bellona, however, never received this information. It was only on

Wednesday, January 28th, that Bellona was sent a copy of the IFE

documentation on restarting the reactor. 



The IFE application.dated January 20th.meaning, apparently, that

NPRA officials processed the controversial documents in just one

week. 



Reistad, however, said that the NRPA, the IFE, and other

concerned government organizations had seen the documents before. 



"We don't consider the descion rapid, because the documents we

received on the January 20th we had seen before," he said. "All

decisions had been made and all questions answered before January

20th." 



But no independent organisations were consulted, and neither

Bellona nor Natur og Ungdom, another Norwegian environmental NGO,

were given the opportunity to assess the IFE application. Indeed,

neither organization was even informed by the NRPA that a

decision would be handed down on the reactor that week.let alone,

as Reistad saiid, that one had already been made as far back as

mid-January. 



Marte Hunsdal Knutsen of the Natur og Ungdom responded

indignantly in an interview with Bellona Web to the lighting fast

decision on the Handlen reactors reactivation. 



.We were promised these documents more than two weeks ago,. she

said. .I find choosing to reactivate the reactor without

informing us extremely worrying. 



The NRPA's Reistad said the NRPA had carried out inspections on

the Halden reactor after it was shut down in October, but had not

done any of its own inspections after receiving the IFE

application dated January 20th. Threfore, NRPA's decision to

reactivate the reactorr was based entirely on IFE documents. 



Bellona lodges a complaint

Bellona has now formally asked Norwegian Minister of Health

Dagfinn Høybråten for his evaluation of the matter. It was

Høybråten who, during his tenure as Minister of Social Services

and Health, licensed the ageing reactor. 



At that time, openness regarding nuclear safety Norway was

strictly observes. Such openness has clearly not been applied

relative to this past week.s events. 



Bellona has requested all documents regarding this case. The

Halden reactor is one of the world.s oldest operational reactors,

and Bellona sees cause for alarm in the speedy, closed hearing

that decided whether or not Halden would remain operative. 



The IFE, for its part, is content that the elderly reactor has

been reactivated. 



.At the IFE in Halden we are pleased that we can start research

again,. the Haleden reactoes Project Manager Wolfgang Wiesenack

said, according to the Norwegian newspaper Halden Arbeiderblad.

He said further that the institute has had a certain loss of

income, due to the shutdown, but so far no customer has withdrawn.



`The Halden reactor is putting out more waste. Here, Bellona's

Nils Bøhmer inspects tonnes of radioactive waste stored in

Kjeller, near Oslo.  

Thomas Nilsen/Bellona  

  

More spillage and waste

The million-dollar repair job to renovate the reactor has added

to the waste. Pipelines, contaminated rags, and other components

pulled from the reactor during the work has produced some six to

seven barrels of low- to medium-activity radioactive waste. This

waste will be transferred to the already over-burdened waste

storage facility at Himdalen, 50 kilometres east of Oslo. 



By reactivating the Halden reactor, Norway can expect more high

level atomic waste. Altogether, the Halden reactor has produced

approximately 10 tonnes of high level radioactive waste since it

began operation. Each year of the reactor.s operations will

generate another 80 kilograms of spent nuclear fuel. 



This is waste of a particular sort that must be kept isolated

from nature and the environment for thousands of years to come.

Sweden is currently planning to deposit its waste in a 500 metre

deep bedrock repository. 



In Norway, an official committee suggest a new intermediate

depository for spent nuclear fuel. The price-tag for such a

facility is estimated to be some NOK 1 billion. But the waste

needs a permanent geologic repository, and Norway.s plans for

building such a facility are at loos ends. 



At present, spent nuclear fuel from the reactor is stored in the

town centre off Halden. Spent nuclear fuel is also transported on

the highway between Halden and Kjeller on the outskirts of Oslo. 



Last autumn, the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic

Energy Agency, or IAEA visited the Halden reactor to make sure

its waste was being properly stored. This led to a comprehensive

report of recommendations, which was submitted to NRPA. Despite

the signals of openness regarding Norwegian atomic policy, IAEA

report has remained secret and the NRPA will not discuss it. 



Decommissioning and demolition

Bellona was recently asked to join a panel formed by the

Government to decide what to do with the Halden reactor when it

is finally shut down, decommissioned and demolished. Because of

the radioactivity of the reactors component, this endeavour will

require considerable the technical knowledge of many

organisations. 



The panel is to be led by Pål Presterud who has a background with

the Research Council of Norway. In addition to Bellona, the panel

will also include, representatives from the IFE, Statoil, and the

Danish Atomic Research Institute near Risø. 



Drawing on Danish Experience

The last Danish research reactor, the DR3, was shut down on April

15th 2000. It is thus hoped that Denmark.s expertise in such

decommissioning will balance out Norway.s relatively poor

knowledge if the field. 



Demark.s Risø institute ran three research reactors, all of which

it has shut down and readied for dismantlement. A recent report

suggested that decommissioning the Danish reactors will cost some

NOK 1 billion over the next 20 years. A special company Danish

Decommissioning has been formed to carry out the work at Risø. 



In 1999, Bellona suggested initiating a similar project in Norway

to decommission the Halden reactor, including the development of

a company similar to Danish Decommissioning, which could develop

the know-how to shut down and dismantlement of nuclear reactors. 



The main idea behind the proposal was to give the IFF a local

commercial alternative as well as a competitive. 



The Halden reactor, however, has another five years left on it

license, which was last week ushered through the shadows by the

NRPA. At the end of that time, the reactor will be 55-years-old.

The IFE has already stated it will apply for a new licence in

2008. 



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