Saeul Unit 3 Stops Again Just Two Days After Restart

Saeul Unit 3, a nuclear reactor undergoing commissioning ahead of a planned commercial operation next month, stopped again just two days after restarting. It marked the second stoppage during its testing period.\n\nThe Nuclear Safety and Security Commission said it received a report from Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power at about 3 p.m. on the 6th that the operator had manually shut down the reactor. During a test to raise reactor power, workers detected a steam leak at piping connected to the moisture separator reheater inside the turbine building.\n\nThe equipment removes moisture from steam leaving the high-pressure turbine, reheats it and sends it to the low-pressure turbine. The commission said Saeul Unit 3 remained in a safe shutdown state and that it had found no unusual radiation safety concerns. It planned to send an investigation team to examine the cause of the leak and assess the safety of the equipment.\n\nThe latest shutdown occurred two days after regulators approved the unit’s restart. The reactor had automatically stopped during commissioning tests on the 11th of the previous month. After sending an investigation team, the commission concluded that the earlier incident resulted from an operator control error and approved the restart on the 4th.

“

Saeul Unit 3 is currently maintaining a safe shutdown state, and no unusual radiation safety concerns have been identified.