"On a winter night in December 2001 there was a power failure in North Holland, where Petten is located. The nuclear reactor is a research reactor,
not a power reactor; it needs electricity to operate, for instance to pump cooling water. The reactor has a back-up cooling system to prevent meltdown
of the core in case of a power failure. But this evening the back-up cooling system failed to come into action and the operators did not know what to
do. There is an extra safety system by convection cooling for which the operators had to open a valve, but the control room was dark. When they
reached for a torch that should have been there, it had been taken away by a colleague to work under his car. Trying their luck the operators put the
valve of the convection cooling in what they thought was the 'open' position. But then the lights came back on and the operators discovered they had
actually closed the back-up convection cooling system. Had the power failure lasted longer it would have meant meltdown and a major disaster. When I
learned about this some months later - they thought they could keep it secret - I did not think I could take responsibility any longer and I resigned
from the ECN."[8][9]
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