Nuke incident shuts off Hamburg traffic lights

Around 1,500 of the 1,800 traffic signals in Germany’s second biggest city suddenly blacked out and lights at shopping centres also failed.

An incident at a transformer of the Kruemmel power station triggered the blackout, said a spokesman from Swedish firm Vattenfall, which runs the plant.

There were also power cuts on Wednesday thought to have been caused by a transformer from the plant, which is close to the northern port city.

The plant only reopened within the past fortnight after a two-year shutdown triggered by a fire.

The fire in 2007, and incidents at the Vattenfall-run nuclear plant Brunsbuettel in the same year, drew criticism in Germany at the time.