The protection control system at the first power generating unit of the Balakovo nuclear power plant in Saratov Region switched on around 11 pm on Monday.
www.balaes.ru
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Mishap at Nuclear Plant in Central Russia
A safety problem prompted an emergency shutdown at the Balakovo nuclear power plant, officials reported Tuesday. The atomic station insists that that the power generating unit was shut down by an operator “in accordance to technical regulations”.
The protection control system at the first power generating unit of the Balakovo nuclear power plant in Saratov Region switched on around 11 pm Monday, a source at the plant told Kommersant. Later on, the unit was disconnected from the net, causing the shutdown of the reactor.
In their official statements, the Energy Ministry and the plant denied that the situation was an emergency, saying that the unit was shut down “in accordance with technical regulations”. Ravil Kamalutdinov, the Balakovo plant’s spokesperson, said work was under way all Tuesday to fix the malfunction. Mr. Kamalutdinov assured that this mishap did not increase radiation levels in the region which do no exceed the permissible limit in the plant and the town of Balakovo.
Experts note that the automatic protection system switches on every time there is any minor malfunction at an energy unit. Similar incidents happened at the Balakovo plant twice last year.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 31, 2007
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