Swedish nuclear reactor shut down after fire - no leak (Roundup)

Nov 14, 2006, 15:03 GMT

Stockholm - A Swedish nuclear reactor was shut down early Tuesday following a fire in a transformer, but security systems activated and there was no danger of any radioactive leak, the national Nuclear Power Inspectorate said.

The fire broke out after a loud bang and took two hours to extinguish, Ringhals officials said, adding that the cause of the fire was not immediately known.

No employees or other persons were harmed.

The national nuclear watchdog and Ringhals officials have launched a probe into the incident.

The plant's own firefighters and local firefighter units helped put out the blaze and cooled down the transformer from which oil had leaked. The transformer was housed in a roofless, concrete building.

The transformer provides power to the reactor unit, some 150 to 200 metres away.

Ringhals nuclear power station is near Varberg, some 500 kilometres south-west of Stockholm.

The reactor is expected to remain offline for several days, perhaps up to two weeks, depending on where spare parts could be found.

The short-fall would likely be compensated by other energy sources. Meteorologists have predicted relatively mild weather, and Ringhals has operated at a third of peak winter production.

Four of Sweden's 10 nuclear reactors are in Ringhals, which is owned by state-owned energy concern Vattenfall (70.4 per cent) and E.ON (29.6 per cent).

The three other Ringhals reactors were operating normally Tuesday.

Sweden operates 12 nuclear rectors at most. A 1980 referendum vowed to phase out nuclear power. Two reactors at the Barseback plant in southern Sweden have been decommissioned, the most recent in May 2005.

The new centre-right government has said it would not decommission or present plans to build any new reactors during its four-year term.