Hungary: "Slight" operation error detected at nuclear plant

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Hungary: "Slight" operation error detected at Paks nuclear plant Source: BBC Monitoring European - Economic Publication date: 2000-05-20

Text of report in English by Hungarian news agency MTI Budapest, 19th May: Experts of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant carried out a control re-examination in the technological system of Block I, and reported a very slight chance that operational errors might occur at several pipe cut-off valves, Balazs Kovats, leader of the power plant's information centre, told MTI on Friday [19th May].

The cause of the possible error is that the condensed air control system of the valves could be sensitive to the effects of steam with higher temperatures. The possibility of the defect is merely a supposition, but its opposite cannot be clearly proven.

The event was ranked as an anomaly, the lowest grade on the International Nuclear Event Scale, with the approval of the National Nuclear Energy Office's Nuclear Safety Directorate.

The control systems using condensed air will be transformed, or replaced in Block I during the major summer maintenance work. This transformation has already taken place in Block II, while Blocks III and IV have other types of control systems.

The Paks plant is Hungary's only nuclear power plant that was built with Soviet technology, but with modernized safety installations.

http://cnniw.yellowbrix.com/pages/cnniw/Story.nsp?story_id=10715827&ID=cnniw&scategory=Energy%3ANuclear

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 20, 2000


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