Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

US assessing reported leak at Chinese nuclear power facility

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • US assessing reported leak at Chinese nuclear power facility

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/14/polit...ing/index.html
    Exclusive: US assessing reported leak at Chinese nuclear power facility


    By Zachary Cohen, CNN
    Updated 1:55 AM ET, Mon June 14, 2021

    (CNN)The US government has spent the past week assessing a report of a leak at a Chinese nuclear power plant, after a French company that part owns and helps operate it warned of an "imminent radiological threat," according to US officials and documents reviewed by CNN.

    The warning included an accusation that the Chinese safety authority was raising the acceptable limits for radiation detection outside the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong province in order to avoid having to shut it down, according to a letter from the French company to the US Department of Energy obtained by CNN.

    Despite the alarming notification from Framatome, the French company, the Biden administration believes the facility is not yet at a "crisis level," one of the sources said.
    While US officials have deemed the situation does not currently pose a severe safety threat to workers at the plant or Chinese public, it is unusual that a foreign company would unilaterally reach out to the American government for help when its Chinese state-owned partner is yet to acknowledge a problem exists. The scenario could put the US in a complicated situation should the leak continue or become more severe without being fixed...


    _____________________________________________

    Ask Congress to Investigate COVID Origins and Government Response to Pandemic.

    i love myself. the quietest. simplest. most powerful. revolution ever. ---- nayyirah waheed

    "...there’s an obvious contest that’s happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country. And they would, if they could, lump us into their beef, their struggle." ---- Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party

    (My posts are not intended as advice or professional assessments of any kind.)
    Never forget Excalibur.

  • #2
    The reports indicate higher than expected amounts of noble gases in the cooling water. The gases, generated as the fuel is used up, are normally confined to the fuel pellets.
    The increased levels suggest that some of the fuel elements are leaking. If the problem worsens, the reactor may need to be shut down and the fuel elements pulled for replacement.
    That is an expensive step the Chinese are understandably reluctant to take.
    This reactor is the world's first EPR reactor, the flagship of the French nuclear industry, which is consequently very alert to any anomalies in its operations. A serious defect would be a disaster for the businesses future.

    Comment


    • #3
      They really need the power right now so can't take the plant down to investigate.

      https://www.energyintel.com/pages/ei...?DocID=1108682
      FRI, JUN 18, 2021
      Taishan Fuel Failures Test Franco-Chinese Relations
      A perfect storm of technical, geopolitical and commercial issues broke loose this week amid a torrent of breathless journalism after fuel rod failures at a first-of-a-kind French-supplied EPR in China's southeastern Guangdong province prompted fears of a radiological release. The damaged fuel rods at the twin-EPR Taishan nuclear plant are unlikely to result in a wider nuclear accident, but debate over how to handle the situation, including the public uproar, is exposing a brittle Franco-Chinese civil nuclear relationship and a less-than-nimble public relations capability in China's nuclear industry...
      https://en.appledaily.com/guangdong-...%20power%20use.
      Guangdong extends energy rationing to end of year to curb power shortage: report

      2021.06.04

      Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong will extend the current energy rationing rules until the end of this year, in an attempt to curb the growing power crisis, local media reported on Thursday.

      The power shortage came after record-breaking demand for electricity due to the current heatwave and the continuous increase in the price of coal, forcing the province to restrict industrial power use...
      _____________________________________________

      Ask Congress to Investigate COVID Origins and Government Response to Pandemic.

      i love myself. the quietest. simplest. most powerful. revolution ever. ---- nayyirah waheed

      "...there’s an obvious contest that’s happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country. And they would, if they could, lump us into their beef, their struggle." ---- Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party

      (My posts are not intended as advice or professional assessments of any kind.)
      Never forget Excalibur.

      Comment


      • #4
        bump this

        Comment

        Working...
        X