Kola nuclear power plant wants run one of its reactors at 107 percent capacity, but safety concerns could stop the experiment. This is one of the topics to be discussed at today’s meeting where parliamentarians from the Nordic Council meet with the leaders of the nuclear power plant.
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For years, the lack of sufficient safety systems at Russia’s northernmost nuclear power plant has worried the Nordic neighbors.
Earlier this week, County Governor of Finnmark in Norway, Runar Sjåstad said to NRK that he opposed import of electricity from Kola Peninsula because it could give the Russians an incitement to prolong the life-time of the reactors. Originally designed for a 30-year long operational lifetime, three of the reactors at Kola NPP are already on overtime.
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The two Norwegian parliamentarians to discuss nuclear safety at Kola today are Bendiks Arnesen and Per-Kristian Foss.
Norway, along with Sweden and Finland, has since the early 90-ties provided economical support for technical upgrades of the emergency response systems at Kola nuclear power plant. A new diesel-generator was bought by Norway. This generator will provide back-up el-supply to the cooling system in case of cut in external power supply. It was lack of external power supply that lead to lack of cooling at the spent nuclear fuel pool at Fukushima nuclear power plant following the earthquake and tsunami in March.
After Thursday’s visit to Kola NPP, the Nordic parliamentarians will continue with meetings in Murmansk on Friday, now also attended by Russian parliamentarians and members of the Federation council.
The topics are energy production and energy saving, reports the portal of Nordic Council and the Norwegian Storting.
