The environmental protection organization Global 2000 has confirmed reports of safety deficiencies in the construction of the new reactor at the Mochovce nuclear power plant in the Slovak Republic by statements of a leading engineer from the operating company. During a reactor inspection in late November, the man had confirmed that the safety sheath was damaged by drilling, as Global 2000 announced today.
The holes were „often uncontrolled“ done. In at least three cases, „essential, large reactor pipelines, including ground-based emergency cooling systems, were drilled and destroyed,“ said the organization’s anti-nuclear spokesman, Reinhard Uhrig, who had participated in the reactor visit, today in a press release
.It was a heating system in the central area of the reactor and two cases in which central parts such as large emergency drainage pipes had been destroyed.
Already in April „serious defects“ complained
As early as April, Global 2000 had called for a halt to the Mochovce 3 nuclear power plant project, after several former workers and engineers had turned to the public for „serious deficiencies“. The then federal government then sat down for a review of the nuclear power plant, which is located only about 100 kilometers from the Austrian border.
IAEA inspection runs until Thursday
In October, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conducted an inspection, which according to Global 2000 is scheduled to end on Thursday. The environmental protection organization appealed to the operating company Slovensk Energiewerke (SE) to fully disclose all drilling protocols, and the IAEA had to closely monitor all drilling work in the new reactor.
The commissioning of units 3 and 4 was originally planned for 2012 and 2013 and has been postponed several times. In May, SE admitted that the prefabricated construction of the new blocks may be delayed until March 2020 due to objections from Austria.
