Reactors could fail during an earthquake, maker says

[kristopher]

Reactors could fail during an earthquake, maker says
By staff and wire reports
Friday, September 30, 2011

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy said 35 reactors it built for utilities from New York to Washington may not shut down properly during an earthquake. The likelihood of failure is "low," the company said in an advisory to customers on additional actions to take.

GE Hitachi, which made First Energy Corp.'s Perry, Ohio, plant on Lake Erie, about 120 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, and Exelon Corp.'s Oyster Creek plant in New Jersey, is recommending testing to determine what level of friction would prevent control rods from fully inserting into the reactor core during an earthquake, according to filings with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

"There is no discussion of a recall of any control rods at this point," Neil Sheehan, a Philadelphia-based spokesman for the commission, said in an e-mail. "The focus is on testing as evaluations continue on whether any modifications are necessary."

The issue is contained in a series of reports to the federal agency dating to December 2010, Sheehan said. The affected plants don't include Dominion Resources Inc.'s North Anna in Virginia, which remains shut because of a 5.8 magnitude earthquake centered 11 miles away on Aug. 23.

The issue ...

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_759421.html


From another article on the topic. "The malfunctions are caused by a complex interaction of factors."

Yep.

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. "The malfunctions are caused by a complex interaction of factors."

Know what's notable about severe earthquakes? The fuck EVERYTHING up - redundant, back up systems as well as primary systems.

The greater the complexity, the greater likelihood of failure.

[madokie]

2. We do need to take a serious look at beyond nuclear

and its as simple as that.

[enough]

3. A very widespread concern geographically in the US.

from the article>

Other plants that may be affected by the control rod issue include Exelon's Clinton, Dresden, LaSalle, and Quad Cities plants in Illinois as well as Limerick and Peach Bottom in Eastern Pennsylvania.

Also on the list are New Orleans-based Entergy Corp.'s FitzPatrick in New York, Vermont Yankee in Vermont, Pilgrim in Massachusetts, Grand Gulf in Mississippi, and the Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry in Alabama and River Bend in Louisiana.

Elsewhere are Public Service Enterprise Group Inc.'s Hope Creek in New Jersey, Constellation Nuclear Energy Group LLC's Nine Mile Point in New York, and DTE Energy's Fermi 2 in Michigan.
The South includes Progress Energy Inc.'s Brunswick in North Carolina and Southern Co.'s Hatch in Georgia,

Further west are NextEra Energy Inc.'s Duane Arnold in Iowa, Nebraska Public Power District's Cooper in Nebraska, Xcel Energy Inc.'s Monticello in Minnesota and Energy Northwest's Columbia in Washington. Some plants have more than one reactor.