The power supply system yesterday flashed an “orange” alert due to a breakdown at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Ma-anshan (馬鞍山) in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township (恆春), state-run utility Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) said.
A malfunction of a cooling water pump at the plant’s first reactor at 6:26am caused the reactor to shut down, Taipower said.
The electricity supply was consequently limited to a maximum of 28.62 gigawatts (GW), with consumption expected to hit a high of 27.35GW, triggering an orange alert, Taipower said.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
Taipower uses a five-color system to indicate the status of power reserves and the stability of the nation’s power supply.
“Green” indicates an operating reserve of more than 10 percent of total supply, “yellow” signals a reserve of between 6 percent and 10 percent and orange represents a reserve of less than 6 percent.
A “red” alert flashes when reserve capacity falls below 900,000 kilowatts (kW) and a “black” light indicates that reserve capacity has fallen under 500,000kW, the point at which Taipower prepares for power rationing.
The plant is repairing the pump, and Taipower notified the Atomic Energy Council and the county government about the situation, the company said.
The firm said it has suspended all unnecessary tests on other nuclear power plant units to focus on measures to ensure sufficient power supply.
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