Both SKI and Ringhals said that the situation, which involves the incorrect functioning of 15 valves at unit 2, and 20 valves in each of unit 3 and 4, could have safety significance in the event of an accident. SKI has now said that, if after reviewing the report, it appears that the situation cannot be resolved, the affected reactors will need to close until the problem is rectified.

Following its own evaluations, Ringhals informed SKI that work had continued with a view to running the plants to their annual outage dates this year. Unit 3 was scheduled to enter its outage at the start of May, followed by unit 2 at the end of May and unit 4 at the end of July. Unit 1, a BWR, is not affected by the valve problem.