UK officials are denying reports of a radioactive leak at one of the largest European nuclear power plants – the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. LifeNews has published what it claims is a leaked report by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. The permissible level of radiation at the plant, according to the measurements, was above the norm by 16 times.
RT is attempting to verify the report.
An energy ministry official has told RT:
“The plant works normally, there have been no accidents.”
However, the leaked news that there is in fact a compromise to the plant has not been refuted. Documents from LifeNews appear to detail purposefully misleading information meant to be given to the public about the incident. The documents addressed to the head of the regional emergency services state that radiation levels were 16.8 times higher than the legally permitted norm.
Unit 6 of the Ukrainian plant has been shut down, according to the leaked report. The plant’s statement says that it continues to run and that all is operating as normal.
This past Sunday, one reactor at the plant was automatically shut down after a glitch was detected, becoming the second halt in operations in recent weeks. The plant’s website said that this reactor was running at 40 percent of nominal power, adding that radiation levels detected at the site were 8-12 microroentgens an hour.
The reactor was running at 40 percent of nominal power, the plant’s official website said, adding that radiation at the facility being at the level of. The website later reported that the Unit 6 problem was corrected and that the plant was back up and running.
In November, Zaporozhye’s Nuclear Unit 3 was switched off for almost a week, and was only made public five days later when Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk revealed it during the first meeting of his new Cabinet.
Zaporozhye is the fifth largest nuclear plant in the world.
The main supplier of nuclear fuel for Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant is American company ‘Westinghouse’.
http://westinghouse.com/heritage/
They already had accidents with their fuel, when emergency situations ended with the early discharge of fuel happened. Their fuel is not the best one for this type of reactor in Zaporozhye.
By the way, Ukraine has no resources for full protection of this complex.
Ukraine goes to the inevitable nuclear crisis.