Bulgaria: Nuclear plant director views technical cause for 1 March incident
Sofia, May 11, 2006 -- BBC Monitoring
 

    The fundamental reason for the 1 March incident at Kozloduy N-plant's Unit 5 was established, Kozloduy N-plant Executive Director Ivan Ivanov told journalists on Thursday [11 May].

    According to preliminary information, the fundamental reason, due to which part of the control and protection system of Unit 5 was not activated, was the softer metal of the drives' surfaces. The N-plant and the system's chief designer will take measures to increase the hardness of the metal surface of these elements, so that the situation does not repeat. On 19 May, the system's manufacturer will provide a set of methods with the necessary measures for additional processing of the elements of the unit's control and protection system. Before the measures' implementation, we will consult the Institute of Metal Science and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and after obtaining a permission from the Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA), we will implement the measures, Ivanov said. Parliament's Energy Committee heard on Thursday detailed information about the incident provided by the managements of Kozloduy N-plant and NRA.

    Source: BTA website, Sofia, in English 1558 gmt 11 May 06

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