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IAEA experts complete review of Swedish nuclear plant

Other News Materials 28 February 2008 18:48 (UTC +04:00)

(dpa) - International experts Thursday completed their review of the Swedish nuclear facility at Forsmark saying they had not found ground for "immediate" action.

The review, the first of its kind in Sweden since 1991, was conducted under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Miroslav Lipar, head of the IAEA operational safety section, said the team could not find anything "so serious that it needs some immediate action" after the three-week review.

However, there were problems and management was urged to study and "implement" the proposals pending in the final report from the IAEA team, Lipar told Swedish radio news.

The team included experts from Britain, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, Finland, France, Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland, and the United States.

Recommendations included "improvement of feedback on operating experience," the team said in a statement.

Sweden last year invited the inspection at Forsmark, 140 kilometres north of Stockholm after several incidents at the plant.

These included a shutdown of one of the three reactors in July 2006 triggered by a short circuit in a switchyard outside the plant, and reports of a deteriorating security culture.

State-controlled energy group Vattenfall - the majority owner of both Forsmark and the Ringhals facility - has launched a plan to improve security issues and the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate has kept Forsmark under extra supervision.

Sweden has operated 12 nuclear reactors at most. Two at the Barseback plant in southern Sweden have been decommissioned, the most recent in May 2005.

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