Released August 14, 2014 | GALWAY, IRELAND
en
Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--An act of sabotage is suspected in the automatic shutdown of the Doel 4 nuclear plant in northern Belgium last week.
Plant owner Electrabel SA (Brussels), a subsidiary of GDF Suez SA (EPA:GSZ) (Paris, France) and Belgium's Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC), have confirmed that they now believe that a worker deliberately opened a valve that resulted in a sustained drop to the level of oil lubricant in the steam turbine. This led to the automatic shutdown of the plant. Belgian authorities and the public prosecutor have been brought in to investigate and Electrabel said it was conducting interviews with staff that had access to the valve.
In a statement, FANC, said: "On Tuesday, August 5, 2014 Doel 4 was turned off automatically due to a loss of lubricating oil to the steam turbine. This turbine is located in the non-nuclear part of the power plant. A team from the FANC went on site to make the necessary observations. These findings showed that the lubricating oil leak was probably caused by a deliberate manual action. Further research should provide more clarity about the exact circumstances of this incident."
It added: "Meanwhile, the FANC additional measures already taken to insure. Safety and security of nuclear facilities after the automatic shutdown of the reactor showed that one of the three pumps of the auxiliary feedwater circuit by a technical defect was unavailable. The reactor was brought to a safe standstill without further problems. After analyzing, this incident was classified at level 1 on the INES scale. This incident has no impact on the safety of the staff and the public, nor to the environment."
Electrabel stated: "After analysis, it appears that the incident probably comes from a voluntary manual intervention on the discharge valve of the oil tank. Electrabel evaluated with the relevant authorities any action that should be given to this incident. Teams in the Central continue to review damage to the turbine and the measures needed to revive Doel 4 safely and in a timely manner."
The investigation and the outage are expected to last until mid-September, Electrabel confirmed. The closure of Doel 4 is another blow to the country's dwindling nuclear capacity.
In May last year, the Doel 3 and Tihange 2 reactors were cleared for restart by FANC after they were shut in 2012 when ultrasonic inspections discovered tiny cracks in the reactor pressure vessels. For additional information, see August 13, 2012, article - Belgium Shuts Doel 3 Nuclear Reactor. However, both were ordered shut again in March this year after 'unexpected results' were discovered during tests on the reactor vessels.
Earlier this week in the U.K., EDF Energy (London, England) shut four U.K. nuclear reactors after a fault was discovered at a boiler spine at Unit 1 of its Heysham 1 nuclear power plant in Lancashire, England. For additional information, see August 13, 2012, article - EDF Shuts Four U.K. Nuclear Reactors.
View Plant Profile - 1072296 1078455 1078388
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
Plant owner Electrabel SA (Brussels), a subsidiary of GDF Suez SA (EPA:GSZ) (Paris, France) and Belgium's Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC), have confirmed that they now believe that a worker deliberately opened a valve that resulted in a sustained drop to the level of oil lubricant in the steam turbine. This led to the automatic shutdown of the plant. Belgian authorities and the public prosecutor have been brought in to investigate and Electrabel said it was conducting interviews with staff that had access to the valve.
In a statement, FANC, said: "On Tuesday, August 5, 2014 Doel 4 was turned off automatically due to a loss of lubricating oil to the steam turbine. This turbine is located in the non-nuclear part of the power plant. A team from the FANC went on site to make the necessary observations. These findings showed that the lubricating oil leak was probably caused by a deliberate manual action. Further research should provide more clarity about the exact circumstances of this incident."
It added: "Meanwhile, the FANC additional measures already taken to insure. Safety and security of nuclear facilities after the automatic shutdown of the reactor showed that one of the three pumps of the auxiliary feedwater circuit by a technical defect was unavailable. The reactor was brought to a safe standstill without further problems. After analyzing, this incident was classified at level 1 on the INES scale. This incident has no impact on the safety of the staff and the public, nor to the environment."
Electrabel stated: "After analysis, it appears that the incident probably comes from a voluntary manual intervention on the discharge valve of the oil tank. Electrabel evaluated with the relevant authorities any action that should be given to this incident. Teams in the Central continue to review damage to the turbine and the measures needed to revive Doel 4 safely and in a timely manner."
The investigation and the outage are expected to last until mid-September, Electrabel confirmed. The closure of Doel 4 is another blow to the country's dwindling nuclear capacity.
In May last year, the Doel 3 and Tihange 2 reactors were cleared for restart by FANC after they were shut in 2012 when ultrasonic inspections discovered tiny cracks in the reactor pressure vessels. For additional information, see August 13, 2012, article - Belgium Shuts Doel 3 Nuclear Reactor. However, both were ordered shut again in March this year after 'unexpected results' were discovered during tests on the reactor vessels.
Earlier this week in the U.K., EDF Energy (London, England) shut four U.K. nuclear reactors after a fault was discovered at a boiler spine at Unit 1 of its Heysham 1 nuclear power plant in Lancashire, England. For additional information, see August 13, 2012, article - EDF Shuts Four U.K. Nuclear Reactors.
View Plant Profile - 1072296 1078455 1078388
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
