- #1
etudiant
Gold Member
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According to Handelsblatt, the German FT equivalent, EDF has admitted that a serious incident took place April 5-6 at the Penly NPP, near Dieppe.
A primary cooling pump leaked close to 100 gallons of oil, which pooled inside the containment and then caught fire around 7pm on April 5th. This resulted in an automatic reactor shutdown.
A primary cooling circuit pump(one of 4, according to EDF) then blew a seal. As the backup seals are able to withstand the 155 atmosphere pressure only briefly, it became imperative to reduce the pressure by venting some of the coolant into reservoirs inside the containment. The emergency valves for this venting failed, threatening a rupture in the primary cooling circuit.
The situation eased after some substantial leaks, starting at 600 gal/hr, falling to only 15 gal/hr before ending by 4 am April 6.
My question to the nuclear pros on this site:
Is this kind of primary pump failure not something that should be a fairly routine event, given the presence of several such pumps and can emergency valves be tested periodically just to be sure they function properly when they are needed.
A primary cooling pump leaked close to 100 gallons of oil, which pooled inside the containment and then caught fire around 7pm on April 5th. This resulted in an automatic reactor shutdown.
A primary cooling circuit pump(one of 4, according to EDF) then blew a seal. As the backup seals are able to withstand the 155 atmosphere pressure only briefly, it became imperative to reduce the pressure by venting some of the coolant into reservoirs inside the containment. The emergency valves for this venting failed, threatening a rupture in the primary cooling circuit.
The situation eased after some substantial leaks, starting at 600 gal/hr, falling to only 15 gal/hr before ending by 4 am April 6.
My question to the nuclear pros on this site:
Is this kind of primary pump failure not something that should be a fairly routine event, given the presence of several such pumps and can emergency valves be tested periodically just to be sure they function properly when they are needed.