nuclear-news

USA nuclear plants have limited backup power for emergencies

there are different threats that could cause similar problems with reactors in the United States,  ….“Many of our reactors are in situations where earthquakes or hurricanes in the Gulf or ice storms in the Northeast or a tree in Cleveland can cause an extensive blackout that puts us in a very similar situation,….

Japan Disaster Raises Questions About Backup Power at U.S. Nuclear Plants, NYTimes.com, By MIKE SORAGHAN   March 24, 2011 The batteries that back up power at most U.S. nuclear plants are required to last about as long as the average cellphone battery — four hours.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says that’s enough. The agency’s critics say it’s not. And those critics are pointing to the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, which is teetering on the brink of meltdown because it lost power.

“Most of our plants have far less than what the Japanese had,” said David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists who has long criticized U.S. nuclear protections as inadequate. “So, we’re more vulnerable to a situation where we lose primary power and the backup.”

U.S. regulators also allow plants to operate without backup power for the controls monitoring spent nuclear fuel. These ponds often do not have containment, and in the United States they contain more of the highly radioactive material than in Japan…….

there are different threats that could cause similar problems with reactors in the United States, according to groups that act as watchdogs to the nuclear industry and NRC’s regulatory approach.

“Many of our reactors are in situations where earthquakes or hurricanes in the Gulf or ice storms in the Northeast or a tree in Cleveland can cause an extensive blackout that puts us in a very similar situation,” Lochbaum said…..

For example, a 1998 tornado knocked out power to the Davis-Besse plant near Toledo, Ohio, for more than a day. An NRC analysis (pdf) of the event said that the outage brought the plant perilously close to meltdown…….

March 26, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA