The Dukovany nuclear power plant in the southern Czech Republic has halted operations of two of its reactors after a pipe in the facility’s cooling system started to leak.
The Wednesday shutdown was necessary as the repair was likely to
take more than three days, which is allowed under safety
regulations, the plant’s operator, Czech electricity company CEZ
said.
The leaking in the technical water system, which is used for
cooling the important technical and safety devices at the plant,
was discovered Monday, the company said.
Reactors 3 and 4 at Dukovany have been stopped, while reactors 1
and 2 will continue working on full capacity, CEZ added.
"It is impossible to run the plant in the long run without the
system being perfectly tight. But this situation has no influence
on safety," said Dana Drabova, head of the State Nuclear
Safety Authority (SUJB), the Czech News Agency reported.
Customers won’t feel any impact from the shutdown as the energy
market is capable of covering for the loss of power the shutdown
caused, said Barbara Pulpanova, a company spokesperson.
The leak is the first serious malfunction in nearly three decades
of Dukovany’s operations.
The plant, which supplies one-fifth of the country’s electricity
consumption, was built jointly by Czechoslovakia and the USSR in
1985-87.