Unit 3 at Slovakia’s V2 Jaslovske Bohunice NPP is now operating at full power after oil vapours ignited at one of the turbines. Employees extinguished the fire with a hand-held fire extinguisher and nuclear safety wasn’t endangered, the Nuclear Regulatory Authority reported on its website. Turbo generator 31 was shut down after local smoke was observed. Subsequently, the reactor power was reduced to 52% of nominal power by an automatic controller, and the unit continued operating with one turbo generator.

The unit had just resumed operation following a scheduled maintenance and refuelling outage. Slovak power utility Slovenské Elektrárne said 27 investment projects had been undertaken during the outage to further increase safety. These included cleaning of the pressure vessel, a integral strength test of the hermetic zone, and repairs of the main fittings. At the same time, planned maintenance was completed on the second of the three redundant safety emergency systems; the main circulation pumps were reconstructed and the circulation pipes checked. Workers also replaced the pipes of the main turbogenerator capacitors and the disconnectors and electrical protection systems of the 400 kV line.

There are currently five nuclear units in operation in Slovakia: Two in Jaslovské Bohunice two and three at the Mochovce NPP – all VVER-440 reactors.