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NRC delays permitting restart of Virginia nuclear reactors

The NRC has said it wants Dominion to prove the plant can operate safely before the agency will approve of its restart.

1-NRC not ready to allow restart of Virginia reactors

* NRC to hold meeting on North Anna Oct. 21

* North Anna shut Aug. 23 following earthquake

Oct 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Friday it does not expect to allow U.S. power company Dominion to restart the 1,806-megawatt North Anna nuclear power plant in Virginia until sometime after an Oct. 21 meeting.

A spokesman at the NRC, Scott Burnell, could not say when the NRC would be ready to allow Dominion to restart the plant’s two reactors, which shut down safely following the Aug. 23 earthquake in Virginia, noting the agency does not expect to be ready to allow the restart prior to the Oct. 21 meeting.

At the meeting to be held at the NRC headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, the NRC said the commissioners will hear presentations from Dominion and the management of the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation and the NRC’s Region II office in Atlanta….

The Aug. 23 quake in Virginia generated stronger ground motion than what was anticipated during the licensing of North Anna, located about 40 miles northwest of Richmond.

The NRC has said it wants Dominion to prove the plant can operate safely before the agency will approve of its restart…

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/07/utilities-operations-dominion-northanna-idUSN1E7960YS20111007

October 8, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA