Zaporizhia, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, is in southeast Ukraine on the banks of the Dnieper River. © Wikicommons
Emergency Shutdown At Ukraine’s Largest Nuclear Power Plant -- RT
One of the reactors at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant has automatically shut down after a glitch. This is the second halt in operations in recent weeks at the plant in Ukraine’s southeast, which covers at least one fifth of the country’s power needs.
“Unit 6 at Zaporizhzhya NPP was disconnected from the network by the automatic system that prevents damage to the generator. The reactor is running at 40 percent of nominal power,” the plant’s official website says stressing that radiation at the facility is equal to the natural background, which is 8-12 microroentgen/hour.
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Update #1: Ukraine shuts down faulty nuclear power plant reactor -- AFP
Update #2: Ukrainian Nuclear Plant Shuts Down Reactor For Second Time This Month -- Radio Free Europe
My Comment: After the Chernobyl disaster .... it still boggles my mind that Ukraine has a number of nuclear plants operating. And while these reactors were built using a different design than those at the Chernobyl plant .... I have no confidence that these operations are being conducted with the strictest safety standards in mind. Then again ... take a risk or have no electricity in the middle of winter .... talk about lousy options.
Update #3: All of my relatives in Ukraine have been saying that they have been experiencing rolling blackouts for the past few weeks. This nuclear shutdown is probably going to aggravate the situation further.
I have forgotten a lot and never knew other stuff about this, but could this have anything to do with shutting off power to Crimea and stuff like that?
ReplyDeleteYou have to balance load and supply.
The entire electrical grid is linked together in Crimea and Ukraine. I understand through my personal sources that Russia has come to some accommodation with Ukraine on supplying electricity to Crimea .... but I have seen nothing in the media on this, and Crimea is suffering from rolling blackouts just like the rest of Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteMy question is whether the problems with the reactors built in 1986 are having problems due to
ReplyDeletedeferred maintenance (like the Venezuelan hydro plants)
or
problems due to grid balancing/grid balancing due to loads dropping off the grid suddenly or frequently
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load_following_power_plant
It might be a stupid question in which case just ignore it.
Deferred maintenance. Not building new plants. Infrastructure outdated and lacking maintenance. And the reason why is simple .... no money .... and what money is available goes somewhere else.
ReplyDelete