nuclear-news

Due to higher earthquake risk in the region, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is requiring three Pennsylvania nuclear reactors to conduct in-depth reassessments of their ability to withstand larger earth tremors.

FirstEnergy’s Beaver Valley Units 1 and 2, in Shippingport, Beaver County, and Exelon’s Three Mile Island Unit 1, south of Harrisburg in Dauphin County, are among nine commercial nuclear reactors in the eastern U.S. and two dozen nationwide that must conduct the re-evaluations and issue reports to the NRC by the end of the year.

“Based on the latest seismic data, the risk of earth movement is higher in the region, and more testing and analysis is warranted,” said Neil Sheehan, an NRC spokesman……..

Mark Petersen, USGS project chief of the 2008 National Seismic Hazard Maps in Golden, Co., said new ground motion records and additional geological studies of the New Madrid fault show higher recurrence rates than previously thought.

“Because of what happened with the New Madrid in 1811-1812,” he said, “we’re more worried about big earthquakes in those areas in the future.” http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2014/04/22/Nuclear-reactor-owners-asked-to-reassess-quake-resistance/stories/201404220095#ixzz2zkRw3KQj