The second reactor at the Almaraz nuclear power station in Spain stopped automatically after the unexpected opening of one of its switches.
The news is being advanced by the Spanish agency Efe, who says that the plant has already notified the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) of the incident that took place at about 2 am this Saturday (Lisbon time). The Almaraz power station is located about 150 kilometers from Portugal.
The plant’s technical teams are already working to find out the causes of the switch opening to repair it. The central management informed that the stop had no impact on the safety of people or the environment.
The plant’s second reactor has not had an automatic shutdown since May 2013, while the first had its last shutdown in 2018.
This automatic shutdown takes place one day after the first reactor has also performed an automatic shutdown, after another recorded before 23 June.
The first reactor, known as Unit I, is currently at 54% power and gradually increases its power to 100%.
Recently, in May, the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) gave the green light for the Almaraz nuclear power station to continue operating until October 2028, with the final authorization from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition lacking.
Thus, reactor one, which started operating in 1981, may remain in production until November 2027, while reactor two, which started in 1983, may remain in operation until October 2028.
The CSN considers that the conditions stipulated in the current agreement, granted in 2010, are being met by the plant’s management entity, as well as the periodic safety review.
CSN’s decision was supported by 44 specialized technical reports and the requirements of the Nuclear and Radioactive Installations Regulation (RINR).
The positive opinion also took into account information from inspections carried out on the plant in recent years by CSN.
The Almaraz plant is owned by several companies: Iberdrola with 53%, Endesa with 36% and Naturgy with 11%.
Spanish nuclear power plants generated 21.41% of total electrical production in Spain in 2019.
The Unidas Pode (UP) party, which is part of the Government in a coalition with the PSOE of Pedro Sanchéz, has already defended the closure of Almaraz, considering that the plant is “obsolete and obsolete”, pointing out that “nuclear energy is an energy of the past, that creates important radioactive waste whose management is not yet resolved ”.
–
