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Page added on June 20, 2011
Russian officials: numerous shortcomings at nuclear plants near Finland
Inspections of Russian nuclear power plants have revealed serious shortcomings in the safety of the plants – particularly in the preparations for earthquakes and other natural disasters.
The difficulties emerge in a report by the Russian state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom, which was acquired by the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.
The paper wrote on Sunday that many of the problems apply to Russian nuclear installations in general. However, the greatest risks are in old reactors located in areas near Finland and Norway – on the Kola Peninsula and the St. Petersburg region.
In several countries, including Russia, nuclear power plants have undergone “stress tests” following the nuclear accident which occurred at the Japanese plant in Fukushima in March.
Keijo Valtonen, an official at the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority Finland (STUK), expects that the results of the inspections conducted in Russia will be available in Finland soon.
Valtonen says that most of Russia’s nuclear plants meet Western safety standards, but that new threats might arise in inspections made after the leaks in Fukushima. He notes that earthquake risks for nuclear plants are always assessed locally, which is why the risks vary according to the location of the plant.
In addition to the earthquake risk the Rosatom report warns of inadequate reserve cooling systems in Russian plants. Nuclear fuel storage facilities were also shown to be inadequate in some places, and there is a shortage of trained maintenance personnel and inspectors in Russia.
The report lists a total of 31 shortcomings.
2 Comments on "Russian officials: numerous shortcomings at nuclear plants near Finland"
Kenz300 on Tue, 21st Jun 2011 1:15 am
Nuclear regulators and the nuclear industry are too often one and the same. We can see how well that worked in Japan. Poisoning the air, land water and food supply is a cost too high to pay.
DC on Tue, 21st Jun 2011 3:32 am
Nuclear power has the biggest shortcomeing of all. Too expensive, too complex, too dangerous. Everything else really doenst matter. In Russias case, they should be more worried about human factors, and things like in-sufficent safetly training and equipment. Rember Cherynobl. There wasnt a fraction of the gear needed for the men sent in to try to limit the damage. In fact, the same thing seems the case even wealthy high-tech Japan. Very little gear at hand and training not up to spec. Russian nukes are like everyones else, accidents waiting to happen.