Radioactive coolant leak reported at Finnish nuclear energy plant






Radioactive coolant leak reported at Finnish nuclear energy plant
A go to to OL3 in 2020 (picture credit score: IAEA Imagebank, CC BY 2.0 license).

A leakage of reactor coolant has occurred on the Olkiluoto Nuclear Energy Plant on the west coast of Finland, in accordance with the operator of the plant, Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) in a ten March assertion.

Round 100m3 of reactor coolant* was reported to have leaked from the reactor Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) in reference to the filling of the reactor pool. The coolant flowed into containment rooms closed to the surroundings and into the ground drain system of the containment. The incident didn’t pose any danger to the personnel, the surroundings, or nuclear security, mentioned the group.

The annual outage began at OL3 on 1 March 2025 and is deliberate to go on till early Might. The upkeep actions carried out have progressed on schedule. Nevertheless, on Friday 7 March, a big working occasion occurred throughout the upkeep work when radioactive coolant leaked on the reactor plant into a part of the rooms of the containment. TVO mentioned the leakage occurred because of human error, brought on by a hatch of the reactor pool not having been closed correctly.

“The importance of the occasion to radiation security was low, in the long run, owing to the protection actions taken,” mentioned a press release on the group’s web site.

“The reactor coolant that leaked into the containment flowed from the rooms into the drains of the ground drain system that are designed to gather and drain any reactor coolant leakages.”

As a press launch defined, radioactive wastewater can be dealt with in accordance with applicable procedures utilising varied programs. Cleansing work was commenced shortly within the containment rooms and personnel instructed about crucial modifications in accessible areas.

Notes
*The reactor coolant is heated within the reactor strain vessel of the nuclear energy plant after which flows within the reactor coolant piping to the steam generator the place a warmth switch to the secondary circuit happens. The coolant is then pumped from the steam mills again to the strain vessel.