News
Publish date: April 17, 2001
Written by: Rashid Alimov
News
Reactor unit no.1 at Smolensk NPP was shut down after a malfunction at its electrical system on April 16th at 8:45 a.m., RIA Novosti reported, referring to Rosenergoatom press service.
Reactor unit no.1 had been under scheduled repair for the past five months. On Monday it was started up, but soon after the reactor reached the rated capacity of 1000 MW, it had to be shut down. Press service said that power reduction had been made correctly, radiation levels were reported to be normal. The press service also said the malfunction was caused by an operator error.
Smolensk NPP operates on three units with RBMK-1000 type reactors. Its total capacity is 3,000 MW. This year Smolensk NPP has already produced 4,968mn kW/hour, which is exceeding the planned rates by 105mn kW/hour. But malfunctions have already occurred lately: a failure was revealed in steam generator no.3 of the second reactor unit on March 6th.
An accident aboard numerous Volgoneft oil tankers in the Kerch in mid December clearly show what can happen to aged ships when they are operated in bad weather—and when economic and military objectives are prioritized over the lives of crews and environmental safety.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution and climate change.
A survey of events in the field of nuclear and radiation safety relating to Russia and Ukraine.
A visit last week by Vladimir Putin and a Kremlin entourage to Astana, Kazakhstan sought in part to put Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, on good footing with local officials.