MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By Andrew Restuccia – “The earthquake that prompted the shutdown of a Virginia nuclear power plant last week may have been more severe than the plant’s reactors were designed to withstand, federal regulators said.

The revelation is likely to put increased pressure on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to quickly implement a series of safety recommendations intended in part to protect plants from major natural disasters like earthquakes.

NRC said Monday that its preliminary analysis indicates that the ground motion caused by the magnitude-5.8 earthquake near the North Anna Power Station in Louisa County, Va., exceeded the maximum level the two reactors at the plant were built to handle.

But the commission noted in a statement Monday that ‘data is still being collected and analyzed to determine the precise level of shaking that was experienced at key locations within the North Anna facility.’

NRC decided to send additional inspectors to the North Anna power plant after conducting the analysis, the commission said Monday.” Read more.

Inspectors find that containers holding spent fuel shifted several inches in last week’s earthquake – “In another indication of the power of last week’s magnitude-5.8 earthquake, officials at North Anna Power Station said yesterday that 25 of 27 vertical steel casks that hold highly radioactive spent fuel shifted on their pads. Richard Zuercher, spokesman for Dominion power’s nuclear operations, said none is leaking, all are intact, and there is no danger to the public or plant employees. ‘The earthquake did move, slightly, some of the dry storage casks on the pad,’ he said. The steel casks, which weigh up to 115 tons when loaded, shifted between an inch and 4 inches. ‘We’re evaluating whether we need to move them back,’ Zuercher said.” Read more.