The employees who, due to negligence, allowed radioactive water to leak outside the contour of the facility on June 18, have been temporarily suspended from work. This was announced by acting Energy Minister Vladimir Malinov, who was heard on the subject in the National Assembly.
The dismissed employees will undergo additional training and psycho-physical analyses, informs BNT.
The minister requested the selection of information about the incident. According to her, the sixth block of the "Kozloduy" NPP was necessary. to be stopped due to problems in the non-nuclear part of the unit and leaks in the steam generator where the radioactive water is.
According to the information of the "Kozloduy" NPP, the sixth unit of the plant was stopped on June 15, and five stages were completed:
preliminary preparation;
power reduction and block unloading up to 40%;
shutting down the reactor and bringing it to a subcritical state;
block cooling;
transferring the unit to readiness for repair.
"Regarding the specific accident, from June 14 to 17 all these stages were completed, on the 18th they started to take samples, pressurized nitrogen was supplied, the operational staff did not exercise control during this operation and part of the heat carrier was dropped from the loop. The spill occurred during the day shift at 7:25 a.m. The sensors showed that during the previous shifts there was no spill - about 8-8.5 cubic meters in a hermetic zone," the minister explained.
During the inspection, it was found that the spill was on the outer contour of the steam generator. An inspection of adjacent equipment was carried out, after a positive opinion, work was continued. All activities were carried out under dosimetric control, there was no radiation of personnel, nor pouring of radioactive water outside the area.
However, the minister expressed concerns about the reason for the planned repair of the sixth unit, since the problem with the steam generator is not the first time. He has requested detailed information from the management of the NPP as to why these frequent problems occur. The minister assured, however, that until now there has been no such leakage of radioactive water.