Nuclear security

Reactor at Belgian nuclear power plant shuts down after incident

A reactor at Belgium's Tihange nuclear power plant has shut down automatically following an abnormality on Friday, the plant operator said. The causes behind the incident are being investigated.
There has been no radiation leak, according to the operator.

A safety mechanism installed at the reactor No.2 had shut it down automatically, said Anne-Sophie Huge, a spokeswoman for energy company Electrabel.

The mechanism is designed to force the reactor to shut down "when an abnormality is detected," she added, saying the causes of Friday’s interruption are now being assessed by specialists.
The operator said it was "certain" the problem was somewhere "in the secondary part of the plant," such as an engine room, and not in the nuclear zone. “The incident shows that the safety system works. The plant is in total safety because the Tihange 2 unit is stopped," she said, as cited by RTBF.