News

Smolensk NPP emergency shut down

Publish date: June 24, 1998

Written by: Igor Kudrik

The third reactor unit at Smolensk NPP suffered an emergency shut-down on June 22. The reactor is to be put back on line on June 25, reported RIA Novosti.

The third reactor unit at Smolensk Nuclear Power Plant shut down automatically on June 22, at 5:51 a.m. GMT. No radiation leakages were reported.

On June 23, the commission established to investigate the reasons for the incident reported that the shut-down was due to a malfunction of electronic displays, rather then in the reactor unit’s hardware.

Aleksandr Spirin, chief engineer of the nuclear power plant, said in an interview with RIA Novosti that the reactor is to be back on line by June 25.

Smolensk nuclear power plant operates three RBMK-1000 type reactors, commissioned in 1983, 1985 and 1988 respectively. Last year, the third reactor unit of Smolensk NPP was under overhaul repairs completed in October.