Taishan Nuclear Power Plant reports minor incident

Taishan Nuclear Power Plant

Macau’s Unitary Police Service received a notice yesterday, regarding an operational failure at a facility of the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong Province.

It is the third minor incident this year, after two other “events” occurred at Yangjiang Nuclear Power Station, also in Guangdong. However, authorities in Guangdong stress that this does not mean that the facilities are unsafe.

The latest notice was given by Guangdong Province’s Emergency Management Office via the mechanism established under the “Guangdong-Macau Cooperation Consensus in Case of a Guangdong Nuclear Power Plant Emergency.”

On August 20, unit 1 of the nuclear power plant was running normally until a planned activation of the unit’s electric ventilation system was carried out at 4:50 p.m. At this point, staff found that two insulation dampers, which were attached to the pipes linking to the fourth portion of the control panel ventilation system, were set in manual control mode.

This meant that the equipment’s normal ability to receive a signal, allowing it to be isolated automatically, was not available at that time.

At 5:46 p.m., function was restored to normal.

According to the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, which rates events on seven levels, this operational event was a “Below Scale” or “Level 0” event.

This meant it had no significant effect on the safe operation of the nuclear power station, the health of its staff, the safety of the public or the protection of the environment.

Taishan Nuclear Power Plant began operating in June 2018. The plant currently features one operational Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) reactor, with a second reactor still under construction.

Earlier this year, two events concerning a nuclear power plant close to Macau were reported.

On June 1, a Level 0 event occurred at Yangjiang Nuclear Power Station, Guangdong province. Later that month, another minor problem was registered at Yangjiang Nuclear Power Station. The Guangdong government stressed that this does not mean that the power station is unsafe, however. JZ