Reactor No. 2 of the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Shimen District (石門) unexpectedly shut down yesterday afternoon, with authorities still investigating the cause.
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) said the reactor’s alarm was tripped on 1:10pm yesterday due to high water levels in the reactor, causing the steam turbine to be shut down, followed by an emergency shutdown of the reactor.
The reactor was stable and there was no radiation leak, the company said.
Nuclear fuels inside the reactor core are immersed in water to heat the water, which turns to steam and then drives a steam turbine to generate electricity, and a feedwater system replenishes water boiled off from the reactor and keeps water levels stable, Taipower said.
The company theorized that the reactor’s feedwater system might have malfunctioned and caused water levels in the reactor to rise above normal levels, which the safety system recognized as an anomaly, leading it to shut down the turbine, but the exact cause remains to be determined.
Taipower was running with a 7.84 percent operating margin yesterday and there should be no power shortages this week as temperatures are falling, the state-run company said.
Atomic Energy Council Minister Chou Yuan-ching (周源卿) said the reactor could not be reactivated until Taipower makes a report to the council for review, which might take a few days.
The incident saw a complete shutdown of the Jinshan plant — whose reactor No. 1 has been out of commission since December 2014 — ahead of a national anti-nuclear protest tomorrow.
Green Citizens’ Action Alliance secretary-general Tsuei Su-hsin (崔愫欣) said there have been sporadic incidents at Jinshan plant and the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) — the nation’s oldest nuclear plants — in recent years, and the government should decommission those plants as soon as possible to prevent another incident, while making public the cause and investigation of the incident to ensure public safety.
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