Thousands of cracks found in Belgian Nuclear reactor vessel, TEN U.S. Nuclear reactors of the same type operational.

Thousands of cracks found in Belgian Nuclear reactor vessel, TEN U.S. Nuclear reactors of the same type operational.(EO).HT:MPN.Belgium’s nuclear safety chief, Willy De Roovere, on Thursday (16 August) said there could be thousands of cracks in the reactor vessel of the ageing Doel 3 nuclear reactor situated 25 km outside Antwerp and 3 km from the Dutch border.The inspector said the cracks are parallel to the surface of the walls and pose no immediate threat but the large number has left him concerned, reports AFP. Repairs, he noted, would be almost impossible. It is in the reactor vessel that the water of the main primary system flows through the core, where it is heated by the nuclear fuel. The cracks, which possibly date back to the reactor's construction some 40 years ago, were discovered using ultra-sound during inspections in June and July.
Belgium’s nuclear regulator, the federal agency for nuclear control (FANC), said the reactor is in shutdown mode for inspections and its fuel has been discharged. The reactor poses no threat to the population, workers or the surrounding environment, stated FANC. The agency says the cracks had only now been discovered because the ultra-sound inspection had never before been carried out.
The announcement follows a meeting in Brussels on Thursday organised by FANC along with nuclear experts from the United States, France, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. "We are considering these flaw indications very seriously and they were the focus of the international meeting of the nuclear safety authorities held today," said the FANC in statement. Dutch company Droogdok Maatschapij (DRM), which is no longer in business, built the Doel 3 reactor vessel. The company also built another 21 casings for other reactors around the world. These include another one for Belgium's Tihange 2 reactor, two in The Netherlands, two in Germany, two in Spain, one in Sweden, two in Switzerland, 10 in the United States and one in Argentina, reports Belgium's Le Soir newspaper. Belgium has since shut down the Doel 3 but aim to reportedly restart the reactor in October. Authorities also aim to shut down its Tihange 2 reactor for one week. The vessel at Tihange 2 will undergo the same type of inspection in mid-August as the one carried out on Doel 3. Both were constructed by DRM in the 1970s, said the FANC. "I wish to point out that Doel 3 and Tihange 2 are currently in shutdown mode and as such, there is no danger for the population, the workers and the environment," said Roovere. Belgium passes EU nuclear stress tests The EU initiated nuclear stress tests on all of Europe's 143 reactors in April 2011 in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster in March. The tests were meant to assess whether a EU-based nuclear power plant could withstand, for instance, natural disasters such as earthquakes or terrorist attacks. FANC submitted its peer-reviewed EU stress tests on Belgium's reactors in April 2012, two months before the cracks were discovered. "The assessments of the robustness of the plants and situations taken into account are considered adequate. In general, the robustness of the facilities is considered satisfactory by Belgian regulatory body," says the report. The report noted, however, that further tests are needed to truly assess the impact of earthquakes and other severe weather conditions. FANC says the cracks were not highlighted in the stress tests because they focused solely on extreme external phenomena. "Results of the stress tests are still perfectly valid. In any case they had an altogether different purpose," says FANC. Belgium’s nuclear reactors are managed by Electrabel, a company of the GDF-SUEZ Energy and Services Group. The reactor in question has a capacity of 1006 MW, the total plants capacity is 2911 MW, It is very likely that the 20 other vessels made by the same company (20/22 are still active) could face an early closure. A lack of innovation and newer plants eventually caught up with the aging vessels. An early closure of these reactors could have severe economic consequences, there are 10 of these in the USA .
Catawba(1) 1119 MW,
McGuire(2) 1100MW,
North Anna(1) 1790MW,
North Anna(2)1790MW,
Quad Cities(1) 1734MW,
Sequoyah(1) 1148MW,
Sequoyah(2) 1126MW,
Surry(1) 799MW,
Surry(2) 799MW
Watts Bar(1) 1121MW ; Affected reactors: Total (working): 20809MW .Total USA: 12526MW (12.35% total nuclear capacity USA, 2.38% total energy production).Read the full story here.

Belgian nuclear chief 'sceptical' reactor can be restarted, TEN American reactors may have used the component in question.

Belgian nuclear chief 'sceptical' reactor can be restarted, TEN American reactors may have used the component in question.(HD)(WSJ).The head of Belgium's federal agency for nuclear safety AFCN said on Friday he was "sceptical" that an ageing reactor closed over fears of cracks could be restarted. "I'm fairly sceptical for the moment," Willy de Roovere told RTBF public radio, even if "the possibility remains that I am wrong." According to French-language daily Le Soir, a crack of between 15 and 20 millimetres (0.6 and 0.8 inches) was discovered during a test in June. There has been no denial of this report. According to the agency, repairs are "practically impossible" and are "not an option" for fear of creating new tensions "which we must avoid at all costs." Installing a replacement meanwhile has never been attempted anywhere because of the problem of high radiation levels. The AFCN revealed on Wednesday that the Doel 3 reactor, located 25 kilometres (20 miles) north of Antwerp, would remain closed at least until August 31 after the discovery of possible cracks in the protective vessel surrounding the core during routine June testing. The agency is also mulling the permanent closure "in the worst case" of a second reactor in the country's south near Liege. The tests showed "faults in the steel base material" on which the reactor vessel is mounted, the AFCN said.The Dutch firm, Rotterdam Drydocks, that made the vessels is out of business, which has amplified concerns about others it delivered in Europe and in the Americas. Spain has indicated it has two reactors in the same bracket, Switzerland and Sweden one each. The firm supplied one to the Netherlands, but had not manufactured it. The government in The Hague said it has still to decide whether to test its nuclear facilities. The German government said reactors supplied by the defunct company were no longer in service. Representatives of nuclear safety bodies from all the countries involved will meet in Brussels on August 16 to "exchange information," the AFCN said.
Checks with a new technology at the Doel power plant near Belgium's biggest port, Antwerp, identified the possible cracks, the Belgian regulator FANC said. The vessel is a 20-centimeter-thick steel tank, which is roughly three meters tall and four meters in diameter.
At least one reactor in Switzerland, another in Belgium and two in Spain have components produced by the same Dutch firm, Rotterdam Drydock Company, which has gone bankrupt since producing the equipment.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Friday it has been informed that 10 American reactors may have used the component in question, but it hasn't yet verified that information with U.S. nuclear operators. 

The U.S. regulator said it will send an engineering expert to next week's meeting. "We want to know more about what tests were done, the methodologies and techniques and equipment used to test it," spokesman David McIntyre said. "It's a little early to be jumping to conclusions at this point. There will be more testing to verify that there's a problem and the extent of it." The Swiss reactor was already shut for routine checks and the second Belgian reactor will be shut next week for tests, the countries' regulators said. Spain didn't find any problem in its vessels, after testing them with the same advanced technology used in Belgium.Read the full story here and here.