The largest earthquake to hit the East Coast in 67 years has renewed concerns that many of the nation’s nuclear power plants aren’t designed to withstand a major temblor.
As Reuters reports, the epicenter of Tuesday’s 5.8-magnitude quake was only a few miles from the two-reactor North Anna nuclear power plant in Mineral, Va., which lost power and automatically shut down amid the shaking. No major damage was reported, and three diesel generators kicked in to keep the cores of the plant’s two radioactive reactors cool, but a fourth generator failed.
A spokesman for the operator of the Virginia plant, Dominion Resources, said the facility was designed to withstand an earthquake of up to a 6.2 magnitude.
Still, the margin of safety “was uncomfortably close,” said Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, which has pushed for stronger nuclear regulations. He said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and industry officials need to launch seismic reviews of all of the nation’s nuclear power plants.
“If Fukushima wasn’t a wake-up call, this really needs to be,” Lyman said. He was referring to the March disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power plant after back-up generators failed amid a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami.
Paul Gunter, director of reactor oversight at Beyond Nuclear, an anti-nuclear lobby group, also expressed safety concerns. “Nuclear power plants lose a significant margin of safety when they’re forced to rely on these emergency back-up systems,” he said.
North Anna’s reactors are among 27 east of the Rocky Mountains that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has highlighted as potential hazards in the event of a major earthquake. The commission said the shutdown Tuesday, however, was safe and posed no risk to the public, although it’s unclear when it will be able to resume operations.
“It is important to review the seismic design of the plant in terms of current knowledge,” said Victor Gilinsky, a commission member during the 1979 Three Mile Island disaster in Pennsylvania. “Instead, the NRC has been relicensing plants without any real safety review. … It’s an irresponsible approach.”
No other East Coast nuclear plant was disrupted Tuesday.
In a separate story, Reuters said the earthquake has prompted renewed calls for a dedicated wireless network for emergency workers, a key 9/11 Commission recommendation that has yet to be put into action nearly a decade after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Noting that “cell service went dark” immediately following the quake, a spokesman for a group representing police and firefighters, the Public Safety Alliance, said that “it’s a perfect illustration why public safety needs nationwide, mission-critical broadband capability of its own.”
The Federal Communications Commission said it will look at ways to improve communications during emergencies.
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I can’t offer anything on the East Coast quake or its impact on nearby power stations. But I’d like to point out a free resource that can provide an insider’s take on nuclear plants and how an unpleasant event at an atomic fun factory might unfold. “Rad Decision” is a novel available online free (no adverts, no sponsors- corporate or otherwise). The event depicted is a lot like Fukushima, oddly enough. Just Google the title. The author has worked in the US nuclear industry for over 20 years and portrays the good and bad of this energy source. (Plenty of both.) Most nuclear experts in the media have never actually worked at a power plant. We’ll make better decisions about our energy future if we first understand our energy present.