nuclear-news

General Eclectric warns on nuclear reactors and earthquakes

GE warns nuclear reactors could struggle in earthquake, October 02, 2011,   NJ.com. By Eliot Caroom/The Star-Ledger  A manufacturer of dozens of boiling water nuclear reactors in the country, including many on the East Coast, warned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last year and reiterated last week that earthquakes could hinder its reactors from shutting down.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, which manufactured the boiling water reactors at Oyster Creek, Hope Creek and two plants in Pennsylvania, said that an earthquake could prevent rods that cool the reactor from being inserted.

The rods cool the reactor down because they contain boron, which attracts neutrons. Without the rods, boron would be injected, a messier emergency solution.

“Earlier this week, they submitted the results of this evaluation they did and they found that friction that could result from an earthquake could impact the ability of control rods to insert all the way,” said NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan Friday. “They serve a very important function and if there was a change of alignment in an earthquake and they could not insert all the way, it would be a problem.”….

Last week’s NRC filing identified more than a dozen plants around the country that could be vulnerable, including Oyster Creek, Hope Creek and Limerick and Peach Bottom in Pennsylvania.

Those plants were notified by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and recommended to participate in a surveillance program…..

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2011/10/ge_warns_nuclear_reactors_coul.html

October 3, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA