Cattenom Nuclear Power Plant
Cattenom Nuclear Power Plant | |
---|---|
Moselle River, Lac du Mirgenbach | |
Thermal capacity | 4 × 3817 MWth |
Power generation | |
Units operational | 4 × 1300 MW |
Make and model | P'4 REP 1300 |
Annual net output | 36,739 GWh (2017) |
External links | |
Website | Centrale nucléaire de Cattenom |
Commons | Related media on Commons |
] |
The Cattenom Nuclear Power Plant is a
Description
The site consists of 4
The plant employs about 1200 regular employees and about 1000 more during outage times.
The station received its
Cooling
The site uses 4 separate cooling towers which use 890,000,000 m3 (3.1×1010 cu ft) of water from the Moselle annually.[1] Additionally, a water reserve on site, Lake Mirgenbach, was created. The creation of this lake has led to the flooding of the subterranean portions of Ouvrage Kobenbusch, part of the Maginot Line. In 1985 an artificial lake was also created in the Pierre-Percée valley in the Vosges.
During the
Events
- In March 2001, the reactor building of Unit 3 was evacuated with 131 people, apparently due to a false alarm. No one was hurt and there were no radiation releases.[2]
- Eight workers were exposed to radiation in March 2005.[3]
- On 12 March 2008, an employee was exposed to about 1/20 of the annual maximum allowed dose.[4]
- On 28 February 2013, two contract workers have died and a third seriously injured in an accident during maintenance work in a reactor building. They were working on a platform which appears to have become detached, dropping the workers several meters to the floor below.[5]
- On 7 June 2013, the power transformer of unit 1 caught fire. The block turned itself off automatically and nobody was hurt.[6]
- On 11 June 2013, the power transformer of unit 3 caught fire.[7] Polychlorinated biphenyl has been used in the construction of the transformer, which is known to be toxic and carcinogenic when inhaled.[8]
- On the evening of 31 January 2017, around 10pm, an administrative building caught fire. The reactors were not shut down and continued normal operation after the fire.[9]
This list is not meant to be complete. The references include the official ASN list,[10] which names 88 events between March 2000 and March 2008.
Earthquake resistance
The Ministry for Ecology has declared the area around Cattenom to run a very low risk of earthquakes.[citation needed]
The Moselle prefect declared in late 2018, the area around Cattenom to have a very low risk of earthquakes.[11]
In the Media
The station is mentioned in Shadowrun, a fictional video game in which the facility undergoes a catastrophic nuclear meltdown, resulting in the release of a massive cloud of radioactive gas. In this imaginary adventure, the northern half of the province of Lorraine, the German state of Saarland and the entire nation of Luxembourg are evacuated, resulting in the creation of an exclusion zone known as the Saar-Lorraine-Luxembourg Special Administrative Zone, or S.O.X. The video game presents the S.O.X. as under direct control of mega-corporations and serving as a testing ground for the effects of radiation on the setting's magic.
References
- ^ Eléments de diagnostic de la partie française Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Agence de l'Eau Rhin Meuse, published April 2005, accessed 30 March 2011
- ^ ASN on evacuations in March 2001 Archived 12 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Power Transformer Manufacturers
- ^ Disclosure by the EDF concerning the radiadion of an employee in March 2008 (french)[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Fatal platform fall at French plant - World Nuclear News".
- ^ "transformer of unit 1 caught fire (German)". Archived from the original on 9 June 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
- ^ transformer of unit 3 caught fire (German)
- ^ PCB in transformer of unit 3 (German)
- ^ "Administrative building fire (English)". Archived from the original on 1 February 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
- ^ the pages of the french ASN (French)[permanent dead link]
- ^ Martin, Didier (17 December 2018). "Dossier départemental des risques majeurs de la Moselle Edition 2018" (PDF). Les services de l'État en Moselle. pp. 36–37. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 January 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2021.