Sweden: fire in a nuclear power station

[Christophe]

A transformer at a Swedish nuclear power plant caught fire overnight without causing injuries, causing a reactor shutdown, according to the Swedish Nuclear Energy Authority (SKI).

But Europe has already come close to a new nuclear disaster on July 25, 2006, following a short circuit causing the blackout of a reactor at Forsmark in Sweden. According to the former head of this plant, "It is the most dangerous event since Harrisburg and Chernobyl".

"A fire in a transformer of the Ringhals 3 reactor took place around midnight (23H00 GMT) (...). The reactor was stopped as a matter of urgency and all the safety systems worked as they should," says SKI on his website.
The reasons for the fire are not yet known, said Anders Jörle, spokesman for the authority.
He stressed that the transformer which caught fire "is not at all located in the same building as the nuclear reactor" Ringhals 3, specifying that the two were distant of "50 to 60 meters".

Ringhals 3 is one of four reactors at the Ringhals power plant in south-west Sweden and one of ten reactors in the Nordic country. It was put into service in 1981.

It should not restart for several days, said Jörle.

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