A month after announcing Angra 2 had gone three years without an unplanned reactor shutdown, Brazil’s nuclear utility Electronuclear said the plant was disconnected from the grid Wednesday due failure of the steam inlet valve control system.
Electronuclear, a subsidiary of Electrobras, said the unit was “disconnected from the National Interconnected System,” because, “the unit’s turbogenerator had a failure in the steam inlet valve control system – in the non-nuclear part of the plant.” The plant was turned off manually to replace some components.
Until this shutdown it was the longest period since 2001, when the plant went into commercial operating status, that the plant had operated without an unplanned shutdown.
Electronuclear also announced this week that it had signed contracts that would restart work on the Angra 3 reactor under a Critical Path Acceleration Plan.
The consortium comprised of Ferreira Guedes, Matricial and ADtranz will resume work on the reactor after approval announced by the Electrobras Board of Directors last month.
The work going forward includes completion of the concrete superstructure for the reactor building, closing the steal containment dome and installation of the cooling pool for spent reactor fuel, according to Nuclear Engineering International.
Several other key contracts have yet to be signed.
Angra 3 is expected to cost another $3.2 billion to complete on top of the $1.6 billion already spent. Categorically, completion of the Critical Path Acceleration Plan is will cost $58 million.
Angra 3, where construction has been stalled for lack of funding, is considered 67 percent complete with 80 percent of the reactor equipment purchased.