Temelín in Czechia disconnects its second unit for several days this morning as engineers adjust turbine vibration

The Temelín nuclear power plant disconnected its second unit this morning for several days. During the planned outage, engineers will adjust the turbine to stabilise its vibration. Plant spokesperson Marek Sviták told CTK. The second unit stopped generating electricity at 3:00.

Engineers want to adjust the turbine’s horizontal guide system, which allows it to move as it heats up. The current setting has tight clearances, which caused the recent increase in turbine vibration and led the plant to stop generating electricity for a few hours on Tuesday.

„This is an announced and scheduled operation that will not affect electricity supplies,“ Sviták said of the outage.

Temelín staff had to disconnect the second unit in recent days because of increased vibration. „The checks we subsequently evaluated showed that the clearances needed adjusting. We expect the adjustment to stabilise vibration at operational levels,“ Sviták said. He had previously noted that vibration is part of the operation of all rotating machinery.

The Temelín plant has generated 8.9 TWh of electricity so far this year, compared with 16 TWh for the whole of last year. The plant will invest 4.1 billion koruna in modernisation this year.