Canadian nuke nearly melted down in February

A senior plant official happened to spot a human-caused cooling shutdown at a Canadian nuclear reactor, narrowly averting a meltdown.

Ian McCleod wrote for ENENews 15 May 2013, ‘Significance Level 1′ incident at nuclear reactor — “The highest order” — Public not alerted by officials — Characterized as ‘near miss’

[…] a Chalk River nuclear operator mistakenly closed a vital pumping system that cools the immense heat generated within the NRU reactor’s core […]

[…] the Crown corporation said the Feb. 27 event — which the official report characterized as a “near-miss” — needs to be taken very seriously. […]

[Randy Lesco, vice-president of operations and chief nuclear officer for Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd] said that further categorizing the incident as at “Significance Level 1,” the highest order, means AECL is treating it with appropriate importance […]

CNSC President Michael Binder questioned why AECL and CNSC staff did not alert the public to the incident, which the Citizen first reported on May 8. […]

And why didn’t the reactor have automatic alerts? Ian MacCleod wrote for the Ottawa Citizen 7 May 2013, Human error blamed for “near-miss” at Chalk River reactor

The Chalk River nuclear reactor averted a major potential accident in February after an operator mistakenly closed a vital pumping system that cools the immense heat generated within the reactor’s core.

A senior plant official who happened to be in the control room spotted the error, reopened the main heavy water pumping system and saved the NRU reactor from dangerously overheating.

Chalk River is the site of the first nuclear reactor outside the U.S. and also of two serious nuclear accidents. But nothing to worry about this time, says Atomic Energy of Canada. When did you ever heard of solar panels melting down?

-jsq