D'oh! Misplaced chair shuts down nuclear plant in Taiwan
A reactor at Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in Taiwan malfunctioned on Tuesday morning, triggering an auto shutdown that resulted in the loss of 985 megawatts of power – all due to the misplacement of a chair.
The plant owner, state-run Taipower, said the incident did not cause any grid power outages, although the power supply light turned yellow from green, indicating the system was running at 6-10 per cent of operating reserve ratio.
Both the power company and the Atomic Energy Commission, a government agency for atomic safety, confirmed there was no concern about radiation release.
An investigation by the Association for Natural Energy pinpointed the cause: misplaced furniture. Staff working in the control room moved the chair to clean and, in the process, knocked the acrylic protective cover of a main steam isolation valve switch causing it to tilt, shift, and close, setting off a chain reaction that tripped the main steam turbine and stopped the reactor.
However, restarting a nuclear reactor of this type from scratch takes three days to reach maximum output, according to the Taipei Times.
