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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHurricane Florence Is Headed Straight for North Carolina's Nuclear Reactors
(Bloomberg) Hurricane Florence is now headed straight for Duke Energy Corp.s Brunswick nuclear plant on North Carolinas southern coast. Company officials say theyre ready; industry foes arent so sure.
Brunswicks two reactors, located near the town of Southport, were built to withstand Category 5 winds exceeding 156 miles (251 kilometers) per hour, according to Karen Williams, a Duke spokeswoman. They sit 20 feet above sea level and four miles inland, she said, suggesting theyre resistant to even the 13-foot ocean surge forecast for Florence.
The plan, she said, is to shut the 1,870-megawatt plant two hours before tropical storm-force winds reach the facility, which could happen as early as Thursday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center. Meanwhile, the company is providing extra personnel to monitor the plant.
Overall, there are at least nine nuclear facilities within Florences projected impact area. Brunswick is closest to the eye, but every reactor exposed to hurricane-force winds will be shut down, said Joey Ledford, a spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Weve got inspectors at every plant.
Still, the boiling water reactors used at Brunswick are similar to ones that melted down at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan in 2011, according to Edwin Lyman, a nuclear expert with the Union of Concerned Scientists. They have a particular vulnerability to flooding, he said.
Federal regulators added measures to prevent a similar accident in the U.S., including re-evaluating flood risk. But if Florence truly is significantly greater than anything experienced at these plants, it may exceed even their re-evaluated hazard, Lyman said.
We dont expect any impact from the storm surge, Dukes Williams said by phone. Weve been through many hurricanes since operations began in 1975.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/hurricane-florence-headed-straight-north-185632338.html
Yeah, what could go wrong with a 43 year old nuclear reactor?
malaise
(269,054 posts)hope they pass the test.
BootinUp
(47,165 posts)They thought they were making sand castles?
localroger
(3,629 posts)There's no history of tsunamis like the one that hit Fukushima. They are well positioned for even the worst likely hurricane threats, at least for now.
On the other hand if Cumbre Vieja erupts they could go completely underwater, but then so would everyone else within a few hundred miles of the East and Gulf coasts.
B2G
(9,766 posts)They are 4 miles inland.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)We really need to pick our fight better. The scale of destruction would have to be enormous for that plant to be impacted, if it does get impacted, that means hundreds of thousands of people closer to the coast would be dead.