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Climate change brings storm, wave, threats to nuclear power plants

Millstone shutdown is a sign of broader power problem caused by climate change, CT Mirror, September 24, 2012, By Jan Ellen Spiegel “……As if warm water and lack of water haven’t produced enough hand-wringing at power plants this summer, scientists also are mindful that climate change includes sea level rise and increasingly violent storms. Millstone, literally at the water’s edge, has suffered storm-related power reductions over the years. MacManus said waves came over the seawall during Tropical Storm Irene, but water did not enter any buildings.

The NRC’s new chairwoman, Allison Macfarlane, has asked her staff to examine the effects of climate change on nuclear power plant operation.

But the industry bristles at the notion that it has ignored water issues. “It would be wrong to think that this is a sudden thing no one has ever thought about, no one has ever talked about,” said William Skaff, director of policy analysis at the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry’s policy organization.

But others like John Rogers, co-manager of the energy and water project for the Union of Concerned Scientists, saw the Millstone shutdown and other incidents as wake-up calls.

“It’s clear that past energy choices in numerous instances are colliding with available water resources,” he said. “What this summer did was really underscore the potential for collision. In a lot of cases power plants got the water they needed. What we don’t know is who didn’t get the water.” http://www.ctmirror.org/story/17512/millstone-shutdown-sign-broader-water-power-conflicts-climate-change

October 1, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, climate change