Homemade Chinese nuclear power plant in Fujian automatically shuts down after incident

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/15
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Chinese government is denying there were any radiation leaks from its new homegrown nuclear power plant after it "automatically shut down" following an incident involving the main steam line.

On Nov. 27, the Fuqing Nuclear Power Plant, which is based on China's first domestically developed nuclear reactor design, Hualong One (華龍一號), powered up and connected to the national grid. According to China's state-run media, all technical indicators of the unit met design requirements and were in good condition when the nuclear reactor went online.

However, hk01 on Tuesday (Dec. 15) reported that China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment on its website recently released a notice from the National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA) at the beginning of December stating that during an inspection of the stream extraction system at Unit 5 of the Fuqing Nuclear Power Plant on Oct. 27, oscillations in the main steam line triggered an automatic shutdown of the unit.

The NNSA described the shutdown as a "Level 0 operational incident" and claimed that it did not cause any radioactive release. It also denied that it caused any adverse effects on personnel and environmental safety.    [FULL  STORY]