Fuel Fabrication

Removal Of Damaged Fuel Completed At Paks
30 January 2007

WNN (PAKS) — TVEL removed some 30 damaged nuclear fuel rods from a washing tank at Paks 2. The undamaged reactor restarted on 30 December 2006. On 10 April 2003 water circulation in a nuclear fuel washing well was inadequate causing a Level 3 incident on the International Nuclear Events Scale. Highly radioactive material accumulated on the floor of the well as 30 nuclear fuel rods suffered damage from overheating. In remarks reported by Nuclear.Ru, Istvan Kovacs, director general of MVM, part owners of the plant, said he had personally insisted on choosing the bid from Russia's TVEL to complete the removal ahead of the other bidder, Areva NP, who had manufactured the original washing equipment when known as Framatome ANP. Kovacs said: "All fuel fragments and pellets have been removed, placed in special tubes and transferred to the hold-up pool." The recovery operation should be complete by March after the decontamination and removal of the tank, and the decontamination of washing well 2. Source: www.world-nuclear-news.org

Source Reliability: 8

Comment: The Paks Nuclear Power Plant is the only operating nuclear power station
in Hungary. The plant’s four reactors produce more than 40 percent of the electrical power generated in the country.

-Kelly