Reports: Fessenheim nuclear accident played down by authorities

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Source: Deutsche Welle

An incident at the Fessenheim nuclear facility in France in 2014 was more serious than previously known. German media reports claim the authorities withheld information detailing the gravity of the situation.

Both the French nuclear authority, ASN, and the company operating the two Fessenheim nuclear reactors, French energy giant EDF, allegedly did not divulge the gravity of the incident on April 9, 2014, when one of the reactors had to be shut down after water was found leaking from several places.

Researchers from German daily "Süddeutsche Zeitung" and public broadcaster WDR claim the incident at Fessenheim, which is in Alsace near the border with Germany, could turn out to be one of "most dramatic nuclear accidents ever in Western Europe."

They are basing the claim on a document they say they have obtained, sent by ASN to the then-head of the facility on April 24, 2014.

The letter and subsequent reply reveal that the reactor could not be shut down in an ordinary fashion due to control rods being jammed. The reactor had to be shut down by adding boron to the pressure vessel, an unprecedented procedure in Western Europe, according to an expert.

"I don't know of any reactor here in Western Europe that had to be shut down after an accident by adding boron," Manfred Mertins, expert and government advisor on nuclear reactor safety, told WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The reports say the official report ASN released did not contain information on adding boron nor the jammed control rods. It was also not reported in that way to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

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Read more: http://www.dw.com/en/reports-fessenheim-nuclear-accident-played-down-by-authorities/a-19093477

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1. I don't remember even hearing about this incident.

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2. France nuclear incident 'worse than reported'

http://www.france24.com/en/20160304-france-nuclear-incident-worse-reported

04 March 2016 - 12H45

France nuclear incident 'worse than reported'

BERLIN (AFP) - A 2014 incident in France's oldest nuclear plant, located near the German and Swiss borders, was more serious than previously reported, German media claimed Friday.

Flooding at the Fessenheim plant disabled electrical control systems and forced operators to launch an emergency reactor shut-down, reported public broadcaster WDR and Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily.

Operators decided to insert boron into the reactor cooling system, a procedure the report likened to "pulling the emergency brake", and which a nuclear safety expert said was a unique event in Western Europe so far.

The joint news report said that operators temporarily lost full control over the plant's reactor 1 in the April 9, 2014 incident after water had incapacitated one of two parallel reactor security systems.

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