Subj : Oops!
To   : Sean Dennis
From : Arelor
Date : Thu Jul 29 2021 16:53:37

  Re: Oops!
  By: Sean Dennis to All on Thu Jul 29 2021 04:11 pm

 > (So I'm not the only one messing things up by moving furniture ...)
 > 
 > From: https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/28/taiwan_nuclear_plant_shutdown/
 > 
 > ===
 > D'oh! Misplaced chair shuts down nuclear plant in Taiwan
 > Surprisingly a real-life scenario and not a plotline from The Simpsons
 > Laura Dobberstein       Wed 28 Jul 2021 // 13:01 UTC
 > 
 > A reactor at Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in Taiwan malfunctioned on Tuesday
 > morning, triggering an auto shutdown that resulted in the loss of 985 megawa
 > of power -- all due to the misplacement of a chair.
 > 
 > The plant owner, state-run Taipower, said the incident did not cause any gri
 > power outages, although the power supply light turned yellow from green,
 > indicating the system was running at 6-10 per cent of operating reserve rati
 > 
 > 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 cl
 > 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.
 > 
 > Taipower filed a report on the 6:30am oopsie and by 11:40pm the reactor was
 > approved to restart.
 > 
 > However, restarting a nuclear reactor of this type from scratch takes three
 > days to reach maximum output, according to the Taipei Times.
 > 
 > Luckily for Taiwan and the power company, the incident took place early in t
 > morning when demand was low and sufficient reserve capacity existed.
 > 
 > The reactor in question is scheduled to pump out power until March 2023, whe
 > its operating permit expires.
 > ===
 > 
 > --Sean
 > (who never breaks things by moving them)

It looks very frail of a setup for me, if knocking off an acrylic covering is
that easy to do and can shut a critical service down.

But nowadays there are nucelar plants whose computers are Internet reachable so
what can you ask for these days?

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