Problem-prone Swedish nuclear reactor shut down

[Logan13]

Problem-prone Swedish nuclear reactor shut down
02/03/07
AFP
A Swedish nuclear reactor has been shut down after a fault was found in rubber pannels in the reactor's housing.
Forsmark 1 was shut down after a sample taken from one of three rubber pannels in the reactor's outer housing was found to have lost its required elasticity, a spokesman for Forsmark's operator FKA told AFP.

"The rubber had become stiff ... it needs to be elastic," Claes-Inge Andersson said Saturday.

Further tests were to be carried out on the reactor located on Sweden's east coast.

Forsmark 1's sister reactor, Forsmark 2, was also being inspected for the same problem although a shutdown at the younger reactor was not envisaged.

It was not known when Forsmark 1 would resume power production, Andersson said.

The shutdown follows the emergence earlier in the week of a damning internal report into safety standards at Forsmark, made public six months after a serious incident at the plant.

The report blamed lax security on a series of "potentially fatal accidents". including a nitrogen gas leak, employees handling live electrical wires, falls in the workplace and employees sent home for failing sobriety tests.

An electricity failure at the facility on July 25, 2006, led to the immediate shutdown of Forsmark 1 after two of four backup generators, which supply power to the reactor's cooling system, malfunctioned for about 20 minutes.

Some experts have suggested that a catastrophic reactor meltdown was narrowly avoided.

The incident prompted authorities to temporarily shut down five of Sweden's 10 reactors for security checks and maintenance. Some of the reactors remained shut down for several months.

The Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate has asked prosecutors to investigate whether FKA broke the law in its response to the malfunction at Forsmark.

On Friday a prosecutor announced the launch of a preliminary investigation into FKA's handling of the incident.

Nuclear power accounts for nearly half of Sweden's electricity production.

The country has shut two of its 12 nuclear reactors since 1999 as part of a plan to phase out nuclear power over the next 30 or so years, or when the reactors' lifespan expires.

[Kärnfysikern]

Its quite a media fuss about this. Thats what happens when there is laws against even proposing to build new reactors. The expertise jumps ship and we have to expand the lifetimes of our current reactors beyond design specs.

[Logan13]

Its quite a media fuss about this. Thats what happens when there is laws against even proposing to build new reactors. The expertise jumps ship and we have to expand the lifetimes of our current reactors beyond design specs.

yes, as with many topics, the Greens want it both ways. I get a kick out of those who are making a big deal out of battery operated cars. Ones with which you have to plug them into an outlet so that they can recharge. Problem is, that electricity is not just magically appearing in the outlet, fossil fuels are used to create the electricity. But it makes some feel all warm and fuzzy, and afterall, we are becoming a world based on what feels good........

[Kärnfysikern]

yes, as with many topics, the Greens want it both ways. I get a kick out of those who are making a big deal out of battery operated cars. Ones with which you have to plug them into an outlet so that they can recharge. Problem is, that electricity is not just magically appearing in the outlet, fossil fuels are used to create the electricity. But it makes some feel all warm and fuzzy, and afterall, we are becoming a world based on what feels good........

Same with those preaching hydrogen fuel cells without speaking about electricity needs. They just dont get that we need electricity and lots of it if we want to replace oil.

Dont even get me started on the ethanol bullshit. Its so hyped on in sweden. Doesnt seem like anyone understands that if we want to run our cars on ethanol we either have to turn the entire country into a big farm or chop down our woods. Neither is a very good long term solution

Just the other day the former leader of the swedish green party wrote a bullshit article in a big newspaper that solar and windpower will be good enough to BOTH replace our nuclear power AND produce enough excess electricity to be able to produce enough hydrogen to fuel all swedish cars. I wonder what the hell he is smoking, it sure is stronger stuff than just pot.

The greens have radicalised themself into a corner and more and more people are begining to realise the detrimental effect they have had on environmental policies. They endanger industries, electricity supply, security and environment all for the sake of a blind and missguided "back to the farming community" ideology.