A French nuclear firm yesterday said it was working to resolve a “performance issue” at a plant it part-owns in China’s Guangdong Province following a CNN report of a potential leak there.
CNN reported earlier yesterday that the US government is assessing a report of a leak at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant after the French company, Framatome, warned of an “imminent radiological threat.”
Framatome — a subsidiary of French energy giant EDF — said in a statement that it is “supporting resolution of a performance issue” at the plant.
Photo: AFP
“According to the data available, the plant is operating within the safety parameters,” it said.
EDF later said that there was an “increase in the concentration of certain noble gases in the primary circuit of reactor No. 1” at Taishan, referring to a part of the reactor’s cooling system.
Noble gases are elements like argon, helium and neon, which have low chemical reactivity.
Their presence in the system “is a known phenomenon, studied and provided for in the reactor operating procedures,” EDF said.
The firm added that it had requested an extraordinary meeting of the power plant’s board “for management to present all the data and the necessary decisions.”
Citing a letter from Framatome to the US Department of Energy, CNN said the warning included an accusation that the Chinese safety authority was raising the acceptable limits for radiation outside the facility in order to avoid having to shut it down.
However, a US official told the broadcaster that US President Joe Biden’s administration “believes the facility is not yet at ‘crisis level.’”
The operator of the power station, state-owned China General Nuclear Power Group, said in a statement on Sunday evening that “the environmental indicators of Taishan Nuclear Power Plant and its surroundings are normal.”
It did not reference any leak or incident at the power station, which it said meets “the requirements of nuclear safety regulations and power plant technical specifications.”
At press time, there was no response to a request for comment from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese nuclear power group.
Powered up in 2018, the Taishan plant was the first worldwide to operate a next-generation EPR nuclear reactor, a pressurized water design that has been subject to years of delays in similar European projects in Britain, France and Finland.
There are now two EPR power units at the plant in the city of Taishan, which sits close to the coastline of Guangdong.
EPR reactors have been touted as promising advances in safety and efficiency over conventional reactors while producing less waste.
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