Nuclear safety
July 9, 2009
The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM) has placed the Ringhals nuclear plant, in the southwest of the country, under special supervision after a series of incidents.
"The agency has on several occasions pointed out deficiencies that have been followed by measures from Ringhals, but the problems still remain," said Swedish Radiation Safety Authority official Leif Karlsson.
According to reports, the first incident occurred late in 2008 and involved the failure of an automatic safety system to switch on. The second, at the start of 2009, involved faulty control rods that are designed to regulate nuclear activity.
The nuclear watchdog also cited weaknesses in how officials at the nuclear plant carried out routines and how instructions were adhered to.
Ringhals' four reactors produce up to one-fifth of Sweden's electricity.
On Tuesday, Vattenfall, which also operates nuclear reactors in Germany, fired the manager of one of its facilities near Hamburg after a short circuit at that plant.
It is not the first time that the SSM has placed a Swedish plant under special supervision. In July 2006, officials put the Forsmark nuclear plant under supervision after the shutdown of one of its reactors.
Sweden at one time had as many as 12 nuclear reactors in operation, but decommissioned two reactors at the Barseback plant in southern Sweden in an effort to cut back on nuclear energy. The current center-right government has announced that the country will continue relying on nuclear plants, disregarding a 1980 referendum in which Sweden decided to gradually phase them out.
av/dpa/AFP/AP
Editor: Nancy Isenson