<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/big-batteries-and-evs-to-the-rescue-again-as-faults-with-new-nuclear-plant-cause-chaos-on-nordic-grids/>
"The newest and most powerful nuclear reactor in Europe that was delivered more
than a decade late and nearly four times over budget is also proving to be a
headache for grid operators now that it is finally up and running.
On Sunday, the 1,600 megawatt Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor tripped again, the
latest in a series of faults and outages that have plagued the new facility and
caused the market to reach out for back-up power to fill the gap.
Olkiluoto owner TVO says the reactor tripped on Sunday due to a turbine
malfunction in the generator’s seal oil system. “The repair is taking longer
than expected, and based on the current information, the plant is estimated to
return to electricity production in approximately two days,” it said in a
statement.
It’s not the first time the unit has failed. In October, it was forced to
reduce power suddenly when one of the reactor’s control rods unexpectedly
dropped into the reactor.
Its sister reactor, Olkiluoto 2, was off line for three weeks due to a faulty
water-cooled rotor that had to be replaced and will run for months at reduced
output because of the fear of failure.
But on Sunday, when the entire 1,600 MW capacity of Olkiluoto 3 was taken out
of the system with no notice, it had a big impact on the grid, sending
frequency plunging to 49.55 Hz, well outside the normal band.
“Olkiluoto is starting to compete with the Swedish nuclear power plant,
Forsmark, for being the leading cause of major (loss of generation)
disturbances in the Nordic power system,” writes Andreas Barnekov Thingvad, a
Denmark-based trading systems director at battery company Hybrid Greentech."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
