Macao’s Unitary Police Service received on Thursday (19 September) a notice regarding an operational event at a facility run by Taishan Nuclear Power Plant.

The notice was given by Guangdong Province’s Emergency Management Office, via the mechanism established under the “Guangdong-Macao Cooperation Consensus in Case of a Guangdong Nuclear Power Plant Emergency”.

On Tuesday (17 September), Unit 1 of the nuclear power plant had been running normally. At 8.08pm, a temporary failure occurred in the power transmission cable of an external network. This led the reactor to activate an automatic safety shutdown. The plant’s staff immediately stabilised the unit, in line with procedure.

According to the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, measured over seven levels, this operational event was a “Below Scale”, i.e. “Level 0" event. This meant it had no significance in terms either of the safe operation of the nuclear power station, the health of its staff, the safety of the nearby public, or the protection of the environment.