Greenpeace calls for suspension of construction on new nuclear reactor and safety review

Welding takes place without appropriate supervision

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The environmental organisation Greenpeace is accusing Boyygues, the company which is building the reactor building of the new nuclear facility in Olkiluoto, of serious security breaches in welding work. The reactor that is being built in the west coast community of Olkiluoto is the third to be built on the site, and the fifth in all of Finland.
     Greenpeace said on Wednesday that welding on the reactor building continued for months without any welding instructions, posing a structural hazard for the building.
     Greenpeace bases its information on confidential documents and statements that it managed to acquire.
     
Greenpeace claims that the first welding instructions were not complete until November 2006, when some of the welding work that had been done had already been immersed in concrete, and fixing it was no longer feasible.
     On Tuesday, a current affairs television programme on channel 2 of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) reported that there was no competent coordination and oversight for the welding.
     “There is no way to know that the quality that was sought has been achieved”, said Lauri Myllyvirta of Finnish Greenpeace on Wednesday.
     
Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) official Petteri Tippana admits that there have been shortcomings at the construction site on naming a competent welding coordinator.
     However, he emphasises that the power connections that are critical from the security point of view have been made according to instructions, and that a competent welder was used for the work.
     STUK has also inspected the power connections by hand.
     “We are therefore rather sure, that is, we are sure, that welding work that is important for safety has been done properly”, Tiippana says.
     
Lappeenranta University of Technology Professor Jukka Martikainen emphasises that in the construction of a nuclear reactor there should be no risk factors at all.
     “If secondary welds are made carelessly, who is to say that the primary ones were not made the same way?”
     Martikainen notes that while the lack of instructions is not a problem for an experienced professional, the welders in Olkiluoto come from around the world and there is much rotation. According to Professor Martikainen, in such a situation the lack of guidance does pose a risk.
     
At TVO, the electric utility that has commissioned the construction of the new facility, Martin Landtman, the head of the construction project, echoed the views of STUK. He emphasised that there are different kinds of welds, and that the instructions and oversight of the important ones were properly implemented.
     Landtman is leaving the TVO project in September when he takes over the post of director of the Finnish shipyards of Aker Yards.
     He has somewhat ambivalent feelings about the project that he is leaving behind. He says that he believes that the reactor will be the best and most progressive in the world so far, but he also feels that the faltering schedule has been a serious disappointment for him.
     
The most critical phases of the project as far as safety is concerned, the installation of the reactor, the cooling system, and electronic security systems, still lie ahead in Olkiluoto.
      “The violations that have taken place can be a security risk already now. Another matter which is at least as important is that the safety culture that is in a shambles can form a serious risk when more critical phases in the construction begin”, says Lairi Myllyvirta of Greenpeace.
      The organisation is demanding the immediate suspension of the construction work, and the setting up of an unbiased expert study, commissioned by the Finnish state, and possibly conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Further delay in construction of Olkiluoto-3 nuclear reactor (5.12.2006)

Links:
  BREAKING NEWS: Safety procedures in disarray at Finland’s Olkiluoto 3 nuclear construction site (Greenpeace website)

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