"We have strong indications, that in the Temelín NPP a pipe of the primary cooling circuit has been welded to the reactor in a way that is not allowed. Because this main cooling circuit is one of the most vulnerable parts of a nuclear power station, it is very important that it is investigated by welding experts," stated the director of the Czech office of Greenpeace Jiri Tutter, and he added that this suspicion means, that one needs to fear for the safety situation of Temelín.

Greenpeace has indications, that during the work on the primary cooling circuit in the nuclear power plant Temelín in the year 1994 a mistake has been made during the attachment of a cooling pipe to the reactor. It concerns a part of the main pipe with a diameter of 850 mm, which consists of three elements. After it was attached to the reactor vessel, it appeared that this was done under a wrong angle of 180° (the pipe was turned bottom up). Repair seemed not to be possible according to the prescribed procedures for welding. Norms prescribe that in these cases the original seam has to be removed as well as the complete heat affected zone and possible other heat affected areas before re-welding. In this case it would have shortened the pipe and besides that would have influenced the geometry of the reactor vessel. Therefore the problem was repaired in a non-allowable way by re-welding the pipe without removing the heat-affected zones. The pipe was cut on the original seam, turned and re-attached.

"When the material around the seam has been exposed twice to the high welding temperature and other welding procedures, it is very likely that its brittleness has increased considerably, which again increases the chance of a rupture in the primary cooling circuit. This could lead to a large nuclear accident and endanger the public," stressed Tutter.

Greenpeace turned with this information to the highest authority for nuclear safety - the State Office for Nuclear Safety. The management of SUJB then admitted that a mistake was made during assembly of the pipe, but that it had been repaired in another way: It was said that already before attachment to the reactor, a part of the pipe appeared to have been turned. It therefore could still be repaired according to prescribed norms. However, because Greenpeace has eyewitnesses that state, that the repair took place in the above-described non-allowed way, Greenpeace forwarded last week a criminal complaint against unknown to the state prosecutor. It cannot be excluded that the documentation about this case that is in the hands of Temelín owner CEZ and the SUJB has been completely falsified.

Instead of investigating the case and trying to correct the mistake, CEZ reacted by suing Greenpeace and its director Jiri Tutter. CEZ now want from Greenpeace compensation of damages for around 5 million Czech Crowns (150.000 USD).

"This case must be investigated directly, to prevent evidence from being destroyed. We therefore turned to the state prosecutor in Ceske Budejovice, to ask him to carry out an investigation to the welding seam by court experts, as well as to all related documentation" said Tutter and added that this investigation should be carried out before activation of the reactor (2).

Vaclav Vasku
Press spokesperson of Greenpeace Czech Republic

More information:

Vaclav Vasku (Czech): +420.2.24319776
Jan Haverkamp, campaign co-ordinator (English and German): +420.2.24319776, mobile: +420.604.257 822
Jiri Tutter (English, Czech): +420.2.24319776

Notes for the editor:

(1) The case is in the hands of the regional state prosecutor in Ceske Budejovice, JUDr. Josef Richter and JUDr. Dana Koptickova
(2) Activation is foreseen for the 20st of September, but could also be started earlier (dates have recently been mentioned between 10 and 20 September).