Accident occurs at Romanian nuclear power plant due to electrical failure

BUCHAREST - An accident occurred Thursday morning at Romania's Cernavoda nuclear power plant due to an electrical system failure, said the plant's operator Nuclearelectrica.

Nuclearelectrica said in a press release that the plant's Unit 2 reactor was automatically disconnected from the national energy system in the accident, which caused no impact on nuclear safety, people and the environment.

The company said the reactor disconnection followed "a dysfunction at the electrical process system" in the old part of the power plant, which is located in Constanta County in southeastern Romania.

Experts are further investigating the cause of the accident and will make necessary repairs, it said.

In addition, it ruled out a potential link between the accident and a recent power reduction of the Unit 2 reactor.

Recently, nuclear power plants repeatedly shut down or cut production due to breakdowns and repairs. Last Sunday the same Unit 2 had been ramped down to 55 percent of capacity for the replacement of a bearing at the engine of a condensate pump; on the same day Unit 1 was also subjected to a controlled shutdown for about 48 hours following a malfunction at one of the plant's process control systems.

Cernavoda is home to two operating Candu reactors, Units 1 and 2, which came into service in 1996 and 2007 and provide some 20 percent of the country's electricity.