Concern: China’s nuclear power plant has five broken fuel rods in a reactor

A Chinese nuclear power plant near Hong Kong has five broken fuel rods in a reactor, but no radioactivity leaks have occurred, the government said on Wednesday in the first confirmation of an incident that raised safety concerns from the power station.

The radiation increased inside Reactor No.1 at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong Province, but was contained by barriers that functioned as intended, the Ministry of Ecology and Environmental Affairs noted. Environment on social networks.

The Hong Kong government said it was watching the plant and requested information from authorities in Guangdong after the French co-owner of the facility reported on Monday an increase in “rare gases” in the reactor. According to experts, this suggests that the fuel rods shattered and released radioactive gases produced during fission.

Noble gases such as xenon and krypton are byproducts of fission, along with particles of cesium, strontium and other radioactive elements.

“There is no problem of radioactive leaks into the environment,” the ministry statement said, adding that the radiation in the reactor coolant increased but was within the “permissible range”.

The protective packaging of about five of the reactor’s 60,000 fuel rods is damaged, the ministry added. This damage was inevitable due to manufacturing and other issues, and was far below the level the factory can withstand, he said.

According to the ministry, regulators will oversee measures to control radiation levels inside the reactor, but have not provided further details.

The Taishan plant, which began commercial operations in December 2018, is owned by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group and Electricité de France. A second reactor entered service in September 2019.

The ministry denied a CNN report that regulators increased the level of radiation allowed outside the plant to avoid shutting it down. According to authorities, regulators have considered a report on the increased level of radiation in the reactor.