Faulty Swiss nuclear reactor shut down for repair

GENEVA — A reactor at the world’s oldest functioning nuclear plant, in Beznau, Switzerland, has been temporarily shut down because of a problem with its main pump, its operator Axpo said late Friday.

The halt at the Block 2 reactor is expected to last several days.

The main pump is responsible for circulating coolants in the system’s primary circuit and must be shut down completely for the repair work, Axpo said.

Axpo said that there was no danger to the population and that another reactor — the older Block 1 — at Beznau, located close to the German border in northern Switzerland, was functioning normally.

Beznau’s Block 1 was put in service in 1969, and became the oldest operating nuclear plant in the world after the atomic power station in Oldbury, Britain, was shut down on February 29.