Another incident at the Astrava nuclear power plant suspected: public figures accused of hiding information

According to Ekodom, the coolant tank was damaged due to an open valve.

“Last Saturday, we received information about a possible emergency situation and the related failure of the cooling system of the backup reactor of the first power plant in Belarus,” Ekodom writes.

According to data from the organization, which closely cooperates with the safety problems of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, a large-scale accident occurred at the nuclear power plant at the end of the hydraulic tests. An open valve at the end of the tests caused damage to the tank of the emergency cooling system of the first reactor during the pumping of the liquid. Most likely, a tank implosion occurred.

“It is necessary to replace it, but as replacing the tank would be equivalent to recognizing the accident, it is trying to repair it.” So now we have a “hot” reactor with an unstable (at best) backup cooling system. According to available data from the Belarusian nuclear power plant, the reactor is currently hot and is in pilot operations to increase its industrial capacity.

In addition, in 2020 September October During the period, we received information from various sources that indirectly confirms the fact of the accident, just at the time when the physical start-up of the nuclear power plant and a process such as the hydro-testing works began.

Our sources have confirmed that there has been a “major accident” or worst-case unforeseen event in the Unit 1 reactor cooling system, forcing the equipment to be replaced. Independent sources described the situation as “bent valve, shrunken tank”, which confirms the previous version of the implementation of the tank of the emergency cooling system of the first reactor, “said the NGO.

Their other sources indicate that the cooling system in which the accident occurred “fused” and went into sleep mode.

“We contacted the Department of Nuclear and Radiological Protection (Gosatomnadzor) in relation to said accident, and on October 13 we received a response indicating that no emergency situations were registered during the start-up of the first energy unit of BelAE.

However, information on the event, in our opinion, suggests that further investigation and verification is necessary as the information is likely realistic and the reactor platform is operating without the first emergency cooling system of the reactor. This would be unacceptable and a backup heating system accident could end in a tragedy comparable to the Fukushima accident, ”Ekodom writes.

Lithuania addressed the Ministry of Emergencies of Belarus

Ramune Marija Stasiūnaitienė, Acting Director of the Radiation Protection Center, told Delfi that she was aware of the possible incident at the Belarusian nuclear power plant.

“However, I do not know how serious this incident is, but so far we do not feel its consequences for Lithuania, because the early warning stations did not register any increase in the natural background,” he said.

Asta Mensonė, adviser to the State Atomic Energy Safety Inspectorate (VATESI) for informing the public, told Delfi that he had contacted the Belarusian Ministry of Emergencies regarding information about a possible incident at the plant Belarusian nuclear power station, which appeared in the Belarusian media on November 30.

“Our goal is to obtain detailed information on the failures of the aforementioned Unit 1 standby reactor cooling system, the status of this system and the impact of possible failures on the safety of Unit 1 of the Belarusian nuclear power plant during their commissioning jobs, “he said.

The advisor to the Minister of Energy, Aurelija Vernickaitė, stated that she has no official information about this incident.

“To our knowledge, VATESI has contacted the Belarusian Ministry of Emergencies to obtain detailed information on the aforementioned failures,” he noted.