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• Sanctions proposed for Ascó emission

  The Spanish nuclear safety regulator has delivered its opinion on the failings that led to a small release of radioactive particles in April this year to government. It has proposed sanctions for four 'major' and two 'minor' transgressions. Posted Aug 18 2008, 10:27 AM by World Nuclear News Filed under: Spain, ASCO

• Ascó contamination spotted at recycling

  Radioactive contamination was discovered on 21 April in a truck that left the Ascó nuclear power plant carrying waste metal for recycling. The radioactivity was detected by an alarm portico in place for that possibility at the recycling plant. Some particles were tested and found to contain cobalt-60 with a dose contact of between 0.5 and 20 microseiverts per hour. The Consejo De Seguridad Nuclear (Nuclear Safety Council, CSN) said the particles had come from a container that had been in the vicinity of the ventilation stack through which the particles escaped the nuclear fuel building of Ascó 1. The release was reported to the CSN on 5 April following a November 2007 refuelling outage during which the fuel channel and then the ventilation system became contaminated before the contamination then bypassed filters. Some 'light pollution' has been found by CSN at the river near the plant. Over 900 workers and visitors have been checked for contamination and certified as clear, while surveillance of 1550 in total is scheduled. CSN has said the impact of the radioactive release was very low and below legal limits. The original release has been categorised at Level 2 on the International Nuclear Events Scale; the contamination metal for recycle at Level 1. Posted Apr 23 2008, 08:33 AM by World Nuclear News Filed under: Radioactive Waste, ASCO

• 'Weak safety culture' at Ascó

  Speaking at a press conference after a meeting with local mayors, the president of Spain's nuclear safety regulator said the events surrounding a leak of radioactive metal particles at the Ascó plant had 'demonstrated weaknesses in safety culture.' Preliminary findings had shown operational errors and deficiencies in information supplied to the Consejo De Seguridad Nuclear (Nuclear Safety Council, CSN), said Carmen Martinez Ten. He continued that CSN has required a thorough analysis of the Ascó organisation and an action plan to 'improve dramatically' the current behaviour at the plant.' In addition, CSN experts are reviewing systems and instrumentation related to the leak, which occurred after a November refuelling outage but was not discovered until early April. Martinez Ten said that checks on plant staff and visitors were complete and none had shown no signs of contamination. Because the contamination would have been with long-lived isotopes, the absence of any results now has ruled out contamination at any point during the course of events, he affirmed. Finally Martinez Ten refuted an environmental group's claim to have revealed the leak, 'because it issued a note a few minutes before the CSN.' Posted Apr 22 2008, 11:05 AM by World Nuclear News Filed under: Radioactive Waste, ASCO

• Ascó managers go

  Changes have been made to the senior management team of the Ascó nuclear power plant, while details of the process of the recent emission of radioactive particles have been released. Posted Apr 17 2008, 12:30 PM by World Nuclear News Filed under: ASCO

• Penalty for Ascó emission

  A small amount of radioactive metal particles were released from a fuel building at Spain's Ascó nuclear power plant on 4 April. The country's nuclear regulator has been dissatisfied with the information it received. Posted Apr 15 2008, 09:42 AM by World Nuclear News Filed under: ASCO