Radiation Вackground Increased In Vitsebsk after the NPP Accident In Russia

The official data were obtained from Belhydromet specialists.

Three out of four power units at the Kalininskaya nuclear power plant in the Tver region of Russia were shut down due to a short circuit. "There is no damage to the equipment at the plant itself," - reported the Russian media.

The Kalinin NPP is located almost 360 kilometers from the Belarusian-Russian border near the city of Udomlya. The power plant was put into operation in May 1984. The total capacity of the four power units of the NPP is 4000 megawatts, Radio Svaboda reports.

What happened?

The first, second and fourth units were shut down by the protection at 5:02 Moscow time. As a result the total underestimation of the plant's operating capacity has amounted to 3 GW.

There are no consequences for the electricity consumers after the power units have been shut down. Electricity supply was restored from reserves.

The power units separated from the network due to the disconnection of the power line, which occurred as a result of a short circuit on one of the switches of the transformer, TASS reports with reference to Rosenergoatom.

According to the concern, the disconnection of power units from the network " is not connected with the operation of the main equipment of the plant.

The station dispatch office noted that the fourth unit had been disconnected due to a breach of the condenser seal of turbine No. 2.

Has the background radiation changed?

The radiation background in Russia is normal.

Radiation background increased only in Vitsebsk by 1 micro-ray per hour compared to July 17 and amounted to 11 micro-rays per hour, Belhidramet duty forecaster told Radio Svaboda. However, he says, according to the practice of long-term measurements, the excess of radiation background up to 20 micro-rays per hour "does not cause concern". The background radiation in other settlements of Vitsebsk region is 10 micro-rays per hour.

When will the power units be connected to the network?

According to TASS, three disconnected power units can be turned on to the network on July 19. This will happen after the causes of the incident at the plant have been identified.