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Small fire extinguished at Finnish reactor, no radiation leak
Jun 7, 2007, 12:13 GMT
Helsinki - A small fire caused the automatic shutdown of one of two nuclear reactors at Olkiluoto, south-western Finland, the operator said Thursday.
Staff used a hand extinguisher to extinguish the fire that was detected near a turbine bearing, power company Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) that operates the reactor said.
'The surface of the pipes is roughly 200 degrees (Celsius)' during production, spokesman Reijo Sundell told Finnish news agency STT. 'At this stage we believe the fire was caused by oil dropping onto the pipes,' he added.
The operator said in a statement that there was no signs of 'radiation or environmental impact.'
Production would resume after the cause of the fire had been determined.
Annual two-week maintenance work was completed Wednesday and the reactor was operating at 90 per cent of capacity Thursday, STT said.
Finland operates four nuclear reactors, two at Olkiluoto and two at Loviisa is located some 90 kilometres east of the capital, Helsinki.
Construction on a fifth reactor began at Olkiluoto in 2005.
France's Areva and Germany's Siemens are building the reactor under construction at Olkiluoto which is a European Pressurized Water Reactor (EPR).
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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