Feds: Earthquake may have exceeded Virginia nuke plant's safeguards
By Andrew Restuccia - 08/29/11 03:27 PM ET
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 ...
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/178627-earthquake-was-more-severe-than-virginia-nuke-plant-was-designed-to-withstandIt is worth noting that the earthquake intensity AT Fukushima (not the epicenter) only exceeded the design spec of those reactors by a relatively small amount also.