by DoDo
Fri Jul 10th, 2009 at 03:06:28 AM EST
This past week, Swedish energy giant Vattenfall and junior partner E.on was admonished by authorities in two EU countries for chronically bad safety management of nuclear plants.
First, two days ago, it was Swedish authorities, for the 70% Vattenfall, 30% E.ON Ringhals Nuclear Power Plant. After the failure of the operators to overcome deficiencies and a number of (relatively minor) incidents, the plant was placed under special supervision.
Yesterday, German politicians were shooting strong criticism at the same two companies, after the full extent of problems leading to the shutdown of the Krümmel nuclear plant became known. That plant was just re-started, after two years of retrofitting after the last major problems (the scandal of which I diaried).
On Ringhals, which supplies the area of Göteborg (Gothenburg),
Deutsche Welle reports (
via Fran in the Salon):
The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM) has placed the Ringhals nuclear plant, in the southwest of the country, under special supervision after a series of incidents.
"The agency has on several occasions pointed out deficiencies that have been followed by measures from Ringhals, but the problems still remain," said Swedish Radiation Safety Authority official Leif Karlsson.
According to reports, the first incident occurred late in 2008 and involved the failure of an automatic safety system to switch on. The second, at the start of 2009, involved faulty control rods that are designed to regulate nuclear activity.
The nuclear watchdog also cited weaknesses in how officials at the nuclear plant carried out routines and how instructions were adhered to.
As for the Krümmel plant, near Hamburg, Die Zeit reports:
| Der Krümmel-Reaktor war vergangenes Wochenende nur zwei Wochen nach Inbetriebnahme nach zweijähriger Pause durch einen Kurzschluss erneut lahmgelegt worden. Bei der Schnellabschaltung kam zudem heraus, dass ein Brennelement defekt war. Zudem war das Kühlsystem des Reaktorwasser-Reinigungssystems ausgefallen. | | Last weekend, only two weeks after [re]commissioning following a two year break, the Krümmel reactor was again paralyzed, by a short circuit. Additionally, during the rapid shutdown, it transspired that one fuel element was defective. Furthermore, the cooling system of the reactor water purification system failed. |
Vattenfall fired a manager on Tuesday. Note again that all this happened after retrofitting following the severe troubles two years ago. In fact, the damaged fuel rod or rods (detected via increased radioactivity in the water) must have been there all this time, while the short circuit hit a transformer just like two years ago (and they fired a manager back then, too, one previously working on the Gorleben final storage project). To boot, information management was again less than perfect.
| Vattenfall steht am Pranger, weil nicht das Unternehmen, sondern die Polizei die Kieler Aufsichtsbehörde zuerst über den Vorfall informiert hatte. Warum der verantwortliche Bereitschaftsleiter zu Hause war und erst nach einer halben Stunde auf der Kraftwerkswarte eintraf, blieb unklar. Die Vorschriften sehen vor, dass der Bereitschaftsleiter die Behörden über einen Vorfall informieren muss. Er wollte sich aber offenbar erst selbst ein Bild von der Lage machen, bevor er das für die Atomaufsicht zuständige Sozialministerium in Kiel informierte. | | Vattenfall is on the pillory because it wasn't the company, but the police who first informed the supervisory authority in Kiel about the incident. It remained unclear why the responsible readiness leader was at home and arrived at the power plant checkpoint only half an hour later. The rules stipulate that the readiness leader must inform authorities about an incident. However, apparently, he first wanted to get himself a picture of the situation before informing the Social Ministry in Kiel which is responsible for nuclear oversight. |
As can be expected, criticism rained from leftist politicians (quotes from the Zeit article):
| "Das Unternehmen ist offensichtlich nicht dazu in der Lage, diese Technologie zu beherrschen", sagte SPD- Fraktionsvize Ulrich Kelber dem Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. | | "The company is obviously not able to master this technology," SPD deputy faction leader Ulrich Kelber told the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. |
| ..."Es gibt starke Indizien, dass Vattenfall und E.on keine zuverlässigen Betreiber von Atomkraftwerken sind", sagte [Grünen-Fraktionsvize Bärbel] Höhn der Passauer Neuen Presse. Einem Gastwirt wäre bei entsprechendem Fehlverhalten schon längst die Betriebslizenz entzogen worden. | | ... "There are strong indicators that Vattenfall and E.on aren't reliable operators of nuclear power plants," [Greens deputy faction leader Bärbel] Höhn told the Passauer Neue Presse. An innkeeper would already had his operating license revoked for similar misconduct. |
| Auch Bundesumweltminister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) hatte sich – am Rande eines Besuchs des Unglücksreaktors von Tschernobyl in der Ukraine am Donnerstag – besorgt gezeigt und gedroht, das Atomgesetz zu verschärfen. Die jüngsten Vorfälle in Krümmel zeigten, dass der Betreiber offensichtlich größere Probleme hat, sagte er. Es wäre angemessen, den Reaktor endgültig vom Netz zu nehmen. | | Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) - speaking during a visit to the disaster reactor at Chernobyl in the Ukraine on Thursday - showed concern, too, and threantened to strengthen the Atomic Energy Act. The newest incidents in Krümmel showed that the operator is apparentlsy having bigger problems, he said. It would be appropriate to disconnect the reactor from the network finally. |
| SPD-Kanzlerkandidat Frank-Walter Steinmeier ... Nach den früheren Pannen in dem Atommeiler sei die Bewährungsprobe offensichtlich nicht bestanden. "Es ist an der Zeit, dass das Atomkraftwerk Krümmel jetzt abgeschaltet wird." | | SPD Chancellor candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier ... After the earlier failures in the nuclear reactor, the endurance test obviously failed. "It is now time to shut down the Krümmel nuclear plant." |
(Language note: there was an untranslateable double meaning in Steinmeier's original. Bewährung also means 'probation'.)
This time, criticism also came from the CDU:
| Hamburgs Bürgermeister Ole von Beust sagte der Hamburger Morgenpost, sein Vertrauen in die Stromversorgung durch Atomkraftwerke sei durch den Krümmel-Störfall "stark erschüttert". | | Hamburg mayor Ole von Beust told Hamburger Morgenpost that his confidence in power supply by nuclear power was "strongly shaken" by the Krümmel failure. |
(Then again, he supported coal as alternative...)
...and one more criticism came from an illustrious person inside Vattenfall (quoted from the second link):
| Selbst der konzerneigene Sicherheitsberater Hans Blix, ehemaliger Chef der Internationalen Atomenergiebehörde, rüffelt am Donnerstag Vattenfall wegen der Pannen in Krümmel. "Natürlich ist es nicht akzeptabel, dass die Behörden nicht sofort unterrichtet wurden." | | Even the company's own security adviser, Hans Blix, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, snubbed Vattenfall on Thursday on the issue of failures in Krümmel. "It is of course unacceptable that authorities weren't informed immediately." |
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I don't know about Ringhals, but for fairness, Krümmel is definitely a bad apple in Germany. The local nuclear industry could have spared a lot of bad press by shutting it down two years ago...
