Sanctions proposed for Ascó emission

Monday, 18 August 2008

The Spanish nuclear safety regulator has delivered its opinion on the failings that led to a small release of radioactive particles in April this year to government. Sanctions for the breaches could total €90 million ($130 million).

 

Ascó

The particles were released from ventilation ducts of the fuel building at the Ascó 1 nuclear power reactor. Risks from the release were 'remote and mild', but the plant operator's actions before and after the event drew criticism. In the wake of the emission, the Asociación Nuclear Ascó-Vandellòs (Anav) - which operates the two reactors at Ascó and one at Vandellòs on behalf of owners Endesa and Iberdrola - replaced the manager of the Ascó plant and the head of radiological protection.

 

After a plenary meeting this morning, the Nuclear Safety Council (Consejo De Seguridad Nuclear, CSN) released details of its recommendations to the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade. The regulator concluded that there had been 'significant failures in the monitoring and information provided' to it and proposed that Anav suffer penalties for four 'major' and two 'minor' transgressions. The ministry is now to consider the breaches and administer appropriate sanctions.

 

The CSN said Anav staff at Ascó had allowed a major breach of regulations when a radioactive emission occurred which had the potential to exceed the annual dose limit for a member of the public within the plant perimeter. One of the contributing factors to that was the failure of plant radiation monitoring, connected to the function of two monitors within the fuel building.

 

CSN was also unhappy that Anav staff did not adequately control the contamination situation on site after discovering the emission and failed to record some pollution monitoring activities in free-access areas. Anav was also slow to notify the CSN of the incident: it found particles on 14 March but did not notify the regulator until 4 April. This together with not providing adequate information quickly enough to resident inspectors from CSN was a breach of regulations.

 

Lastly, Anav did not exercise sufficient control to prevent the removal of lightly contaminated scrap for recycling. Excess radioactivity was detected at the recycling site and any potential further emission was avoided.

 

According to CSN charter, the financial sanctions for the breaches could total €90 million ($133 million). CSN directed their sanctions at the Ascó plant, which is 100% owned by Endesa. Anav, meanwhile operates Ascó as well as the Vandellos nuclear power plant as a joint venture by Endesa and Iberdrola.

 

Action plan

 

The CSN has specified an action plan to improve operations at Ascó, which it will oversee. It involves design and operational changes in the fuel building ventilation system; the monitoring of process and management activities; analyses of operational experience, any precursors to the incident and safety culture. CSN will also place a third resident safety inspector at the plant.