Officials: Virginia quake shifted nuclear plant's storage casks

[cory777]

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN) -- Twenty-five of 27 spent-fuel storage casks at a Virginia nuclear plant were shifted between 1 and 4 inches during last week's 5.8-magnitude earthquake, officials said Thursday.

The cylinders, each 16 feet tall and weighing 115 tons, were not damaged, and no radiation was released, said Rick Zuercher, spokesman for Dominion Virginia Power, which operates the North Anna Power Station near Louisa, Virginia. Monitors were hooked up to the casks to determine any abnormalities, he said.

He said the casks' movement was known shortly after the quake, which had an epicenter less than 20 miles from the plant, but the news was not released to the public.

------

It is the first time such casks have been shifted by an earthquake in U.S. history, said Roger Hannah, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as it's the first time a quake of this magnitude was felt at a nuclear plant in the country.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/09/01/virginia.quake.nuclear/

---

Activist News http://activistnews.blogspot.com/

[Demeter]

1. Great. Just Great.

I'm surprised they told anyone. Who was watching?

[closeupready]

2. '1st time casks have been shifted' Oh, uh-huh, I am so sure. And 3 Mile Island was a success story.

:eyes:

[leveymg]

3. One has to wonder how far an 8 or 9 quake would have shifted them.

40 inches? 400? How much shift of the cooling pipes leading into and out of the reactor core, which is the same GE design as the Fukushima plant? Enough to cause them to separate from the core and cause another uncontrollable meltdown?

Why isn't the MSM, Congress and the NRC publicly raising these questions?

[TheWraith]

5. No, it's not.

"which is the same GE design as the Fukushima plant"

No, not even close. It's not even the same class: Fukushima is a Boiling Water Reactor, North Anna is a more stable Pressurized Water Reactor. It's not even the same manufacturer, since the North Anna plant is designed by Westinghouse.

[leveymg]

6. I read that it's a GE-1 plant. What do you mean by "more stable"?

Are there check valves and flexible couples at the inlet and outlet sides of the North Anna cooling system?

[cstanleytech]

7. For your reading enjoyment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressurized_water_reactor

[leveymg]

8. Thnx. But my question about vulberable cooling pipes and fittings wasn't answered.

It's looking like the Japan meltdowns may have been the result of coolant leaking out of fractured pipes that lacked on-way valves and flexible couples - obvious safety features for any reactor that might be tossed around in an earthquake. And, after the VA quake, that threat now appears to be to all reactors, not just ones in Japan and California.

[Tesha]

9. Why would they do that? They don't want to know the answers. (NT)

[dgibby]

4. They're still experiencing aftershocks.

So far, approximately 20 aftershocks have hit the area around Mineral, Va., site of the first quake. Latest one was today,3.5 IIRC. This has the potential to not end well.