Major East Coast Storm has 16 US Nuclear Reactors and Utility Stations at Risk for Shutdown

Nuclear reactors on the East coast are now being monitored heavily by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) as Sandy moves in. ~ Shepard Ambellas

If wind speeds from the category 1 storm Sandy (now affecting parts of the eastern seaboard) exceed NRC outlined thresholds (defined in a recent meeting), plants will be forced to initiate shutdown procedures possibly leaving millions in the dark.

Of course hopefully, this scenario will not happen and Sandy will taper in force causing little to no social or economic interruptions.

Today NJ.com reported the following regarding the storm;

“Because of the size of it, we could see an impact to coastal and inland plants,” Neil Sheehan, a spokesman based in Philadelphia for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said by phone today. “We will station inspectors at the sites if we know they could be directly impacted.”

The NRC met earlier today to discuss the necessary precautions to take for the storm, Sheehan said. Plants must begin to shut if wind speeds exceed certain limits, he said.

As of 2 p.m. New York time, Sandy had winds of 75 miles (121 kilometers) per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was about 430 miles south-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, moving north at 7 mph.

However, If such a scenario were to take place other factors could come into play as various plants back up systems will be tested to their full potentials.

In some cases backup generators for nuclear facilities can only run days, sometimes weeks without reactor power, but once the generators fuel runs out, or if there is a mechanical failure secondary measures can be implemented in some cases. For example the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant in Arizona, it has massive cables running to Luke Air Force Base in the event their generator fails, this ties them into the military bases backup generators.

The following plants have been listed by the NRC to be in the direct strike zone of hurricane Sandy;

• Brunswick, NC

• Surry, VA

• North Anna, VA

• Calvert Cliff, MD

• Salem, NJ

• Hope Creek, NJ

• Peach Bottom, PA

• Limerick, PA

• Three Mile Island, PA

• Susquehanna, PA

• Oyster Creek, NJ

• Indian Point, NY

• Millstone, CT

• Pilgrim, MA

• Seabrook, NH

• Vermont Yankee, VT

Global Research recently reported a list of problems that have occurred at some of the utilities in question;

• Brunswick experienced a reactor coolant system leak last year

• Surry has recently been plagued by problems with the coolant system, valves and damage from a tornado

• North Anna leaked tritium last year after an earthquake shook the plant and shifted around agigantic radioactive storage cask

• Calvert Cliffs was knocked offline by the last hurricane

• Salem has been riddled with problems with security, turbines problems and other issues.

• Hope Creek has suffered security      problems, has the same design as the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1, has “some of the same issues with above-ground storage of spent fuel rods as Fukushima” and “was designed to withstand certain major weather events but we need to look at the potential impacts of more extreme events, especially … sea level rise and flooding”

• Peach Bottom purportedly has a defective design and has been plagued by various problems

• Limerick has suffered electrical and other issues

• Three Mile Island suffered another leak in the cooling system last month

• Susquehanna has been hit with one problem after another

• Oyster Creek has been plagued with electrical and other problems

• Indian Point is widely recognized as one of the nation’s worst nuclear plants. If Indian Point melted down, it could close New York City for years, and cost half a trillion dollars or more

• Millstone’s vulnerability is shown by the fact that it was shut down due to warm seawater

• Pilgrim has numerous structural problems. And see this. Pilgrim’s spent fuel pools contain more radioactive cesium than released by Fukushima, Chernobyl and all nuclear bomb tests combined

• Seabrook has had problems with corrosion, computers and a host of other issues

• Vermont Yankee – which has around 10 times more spent fuel rods than any of the individual Fukushima reactors – leaked tritium

I myself have spoken to workers within the nuclear power industry. They all have warned me that some plants located within the United States are simply dangerous and should not be allowed to operate.

I tend to believe it as the technology in some of these plants is extremely outdated. The control rooms of most plant look like something out of an old sci-fi movie or the plant control room on the Simpson’s better yet.

Shepard Ambellas - October 28, 2012 - TheIntelHub

diggmutidel.icio.usgoogleredditfacebook