Nuclear News
Probe underway into incident at Swedish nuclear plant
Aug 2, 2006, 15:46 GMT
Stockholm - An incident at a Swedish nuclear power plant a week ago was 'serious,' Swedish Environment Minister Lena Sommestad said Wednesday.
Two of four backup generators malfunctioned when a reactor at the Forsmark nuclear power plant shutdown. The generators were supposed to start automatically.
Sommestad, however, said she wanted to see the outcome of a probe into the incident being conducted by the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate (SKI).
'The incident was serious but staff handled it well,' Sommestad told Swedish radio.
The anti-nuclear power Green Party that backs the ruling minority Social Democrats has called for a comprehensive, independent review of safety at Swedish nuclear power plants.
Sommestad said she did not rule out such a review, but wanted to await the results of the report from the nuclear inspectorate.
Sweden currently has 10 nuclear reactors in operation, including three at Forsmark, north of Stockholm.
Last year the second of two nuclear reactors at the Barseback plant in southern Sweden was decommissioned. The first was closed in 1999.
A 1980 referendum said Sweden would phase out nuclear power. The country operated 12 reactors at most.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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