nuclear-news

Investigation into Oyster Creek nuclear power plant’s safety response

Oyster Creek is a boiling water reactor, the same type as those at the ill-fated Fukushima Daiichi in Japan. Its spent fuel pool is on top of the reactor and both are in the same containment building.

NRC probes Oyster Creek’s Hurricane Sandy response , 15 NOVEMBER 2012  BY ROGER WITHERSPOON NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM Federal regulators have launched a special probe to determine if officials at the Oyster Creek nuclear power violated rules and waited too long to declare an emergency alert as rising waters threatened critical reactors systems.

Three inspectors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission began a “special inspection” Tuesday into the alert called by plant officials as waters driven by the storm rose to 7.4 feet in the plant’s intake structure. The alert, the second level in the NRC’s four-part emergency notification system, was called shortly after the water rose past 6 feet above sea level at the plant site on Barnegat Bay.

The water, driven by winds from Superstorm Sandy which, at times,
approached 100 miles per hour, first knocked out 36 of the plant’s 43
emergency Planning Zone sirens needed to warn the more than 100,000
residents within 10 miles of the site of any major emergency. Then
just before 7 p.m. Monday, officials at Exelon, which owns the plant,
declared an “Unusual Event,” the lowest of four levels of nuclear
alert, due to high water in the intake building controlling the
plant’s cooling system. At the same time, the regional grid shut down
and the plant had to rely on its diesel generators to keep its safety
systems operating.

Oyster Creek is a boiling water reactor, the same type as those at the ill-fated Fukushima Daiichi in Japan. Its spent fuel pool is on top of the reactor and both are in the same containment building. Exelon
elevated the plant’s status to the second level “alert” status as its
generators took over efforts to keep the spent fuel pool cooled. The
rising water levels were of particular concern at Oyster Creek,
explained NRC spokeswoman Diane Screnci, because if it rose too far it
could impact the plant’s service water pumps, which are used to shut
down the reactor itself……
http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/science-updates/nrc-probes-oyster-creeks-hurricane-sandy-response

November 17, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA