6 Dec (NucNet): The Zaporozhye-3 nuclear reactor in Ukraine, which shut down automatically following a short circuit in the plant’s transformer yard, is back online and operating to normal parameters, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine said.
The Inspectorate said the unit returned to service at 21.15 local time on 5 December 2014. This was confirmed by plant operator Energoatom, who said background radiation values are within natural limits.
The incident, on 28 November 2014, has been provisionally rated by the Inspectorate as Level 0 on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s International Nuclear and Radiological Events Scale (INES). This means it was a “deviation of no safety significance”.
The IAEA said it had contacted Ukrainian authorities following media reports of the incident. The agency said automatic shutdowns occasionally occur at nuclear power plants due to various reasons including problems in transformer yards or generators, which are external to reactor buildings.
Zaporozhye-3 is one of six Russian-type 950-megawatt VVER pressurised water reactor units at the Zaporozhye nuclear station, near the city of Enerhodar in central Ukraine. Zaporozhye is Europe's biggest nuclear power station.
