Fuel rods damaged at jinxed German nuclear plant (Roundup)

Jul 9, 2009, 12:37 GMT

   Berlin - Swedish electricity giant Vattenfall admitted Thursday to additional problems at one of its German nuclear power stations, which caught fire several days ago just after a two-year refit from a previous fire.

Blunders at the Kruemmel power station have turned nuclear safety into an election issue in Germany.

Though neither of the fires was in the reactor itself, Vattenfall said it had also discovered at least one of the 80,000 rods of uranium inside the reactor was 'defective.'

The defect was not connected to the shutdown of the reactor during an electrical transformer fire on Saturday. Engineers are to take the lid off the idled reactor on Friday to search for the rods, Vattenfall said.

Tuoma Hatakka, chief executive of Vattenfall Europe, the German subsidiary which runs several of the 12 nuclear power stations in Germany, insisted in Berlin, 'My summary is simple: Kruemmel is safe.'

Kruemmel, which suffered a short-circuit and fire in 2007, was in operation for only two weeks after two years of repairs. The latest fire means it will be idled for many more months while two transformers are replaced.

The defect in 'just a few rods' was unknown when the reactor was powered up over two weeks ago, said Ernst Michael Zuefle, chief of Vattenfall Europe Nuclear Energy. It may have been caused by water-filter fault.

   'At no point was there any danger to the public,' Zuefle added.

   Vattenfall promised a complete review of the management of the station, saying a short-circuit that triggered the fire last Saturday in a transformer had the same cause as a similar transformer fire two years ago.

   'All technical and organizational processes will be re-examined,' said Tuomo Hatakka, chief executive of the Berlin-based subsidiary Vattenfall Europe. He admitted Vattenfall was suffering from a loss of public trust.

With Germany going to the polls on September 27, the faults have been picked up by opponents of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who favours a continuation of nuclear power.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the ranking Social Democrat who is campaigning to unseat Merkel, called for the Kruemmel plant to remain permanently shut down.

Vattenfall, owned by the Swedish state, operates two of Germany's 12 nuclear power stations. Vattenfall also has coal and gas plants. A quarter of Germany's electricity comes from the nation's 19 nuclear reactors.

   Hatakka admitted the mishap had again reduced public trust in Vattenfall in Germany and indirectly apologized.

   He said worries had arisen among the public and 'we very much regret that.'

   'The incident was a setback in our efforts to raise trust.'

   He conceded that state nuclear regulators had not been promptly informed after the plant's sudden shutdown knocked out traffic lights and services in the nearby city of Hamburg.

   The company this week sacked the chief of the Kruemmel station, which has operated since 1984.

   Polls show a majority of Germans are hostile to nuclear power, convinced it is unsafe. Under legislation from 2000, all German nuclear sites are to decommissioned by 2020.

   This week, Swedish media reported that Sweden's nuclear-regulatory authority was considering stricter supervision of the company's operations in that country after 60 incidents at Vattenfall's Ringhals nuclear plant there.