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John Daly

John Daly

Dr. John C.K. Daly is the chief analyst for Oilprice.com, Dr. Daly received his Ph.D. in 1986 from the School of Slavonic and East European…

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East Coast Nuclear Power Plants Dodge Hurricane Devastation - For Now

East Coast Nuclear Power Plants Dodge Hurricane Devastation - For Now

As the U.S. eastern seaboard begins the weary and expensive process of digging out from the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy, nuclear power plant (NPP) operators are trumpeting their facilities’ withstanding the onslaught from Mother Nature.

But the truth is that they were lucky, and such luck may not extend to the next time a major weather disturbance pummels the U.S. east coast.

According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, Hurricane Sandy's threatened 34 NPPs. Of the 34 NPPs, ranging along the U.S. Atlantic coastline from South Carolina to Vermont, 24 continued to operate safely and generate electricity, three were safely shut down in New Jersey and New York due to storm conditions, while seven NPPs had previously been shut down for refueling or inspection. The scrammed NPPs were the Nine Mile Point Unit 1 northwest of Syracuse, N.Y., Indian Point Unit 3 about 25 miles north of New York City and the Salem plant's Unit 1 on the Delaware River in New Jersey.

America’s 104 NPPs handled Hurricane Sandy with far less difficulty than other parts of the power grid. And fervently patting themselves on the back were proponents of the nuclear power industry. Nuclear Energy Institute industry lobbying group president Marvin Fertel stated, “Hurricane Sandy once again demonstrates the robust construction of nuclear energy facilities, which are built to withstand extreme flooding and hurricane-force winds that are beyond that historically reported for each area.”

So, how close run was it?

Related Article: Boron: A New Nuclear Fuel Which Holds Far More Energy than Originally Thought

Well, according to one critic of the Oyster Creek NPP in Forked River in New Jersey, non-profit Fairewinds Energy Education Corp. chief engineer Arnie Gundersen, if the floodwaters at Exelon Corp’s 43-year-old, 636-megawatt Oyster Creek NPP, situated on Barnegat Bay, roughly 40 miles north of Atlantic City, which had earlier been taken out of service for a scheduled refueling, had risen a mere additional six inches higher, they could have knocked out pumps and caused a disaster, a claim that an Exelon spokesman immediately labeled “unequivocally false.” Oyster Creek NPP generates enough electricity to power 600,000 homes.

Rising waters caused the Oyster Creek NPP to escalate to an "alert" from the lowest emergency level, the second-lowest in a four-tiered warning system. Exelon officials blamed a rising tide, wind and storm surge caused by Hurricane Sandy for sending more water than normal into the NPP's water intake structure. Oyster Creek NPP, shut down at the time down for maintenance, lost its electrical power from the grid and used backup generators to power the equipment needed to cool its reactor. Had the pumps been rendered offline, then the used uranium rods in the pool could cause the water to boil in about 25 hours without additional coolant, and in a “worst case” scenario the rods could have overheated, risking the eventual release of radiation.

The storm also appeared to knock out emergency sirens used to notify residents who live near the Oyster Creek NPP, according to federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission reports.

Related Article: PwC Report States that Global Temperatures will Increase by 6°C by 2100

But nothing to worry about. According to the NRC, Oyster Creek NPP, which went online in 1969 and is set to close in 2019, is watertight and capable of withstanding hurricane-force winds. Exelon Corp. noted that while power was also disrupted in the Oyster Creek NPP's switchyard, backup diesel generators nevertheless kicked in to provide stable power, and that the NPP had more than two weeks of fuel on hand.

Still, on 29 October the NRC issued a “Preliminary notification of event or unsusal occurrence,” PNO-1-12 007 for Oyster Creek NPP which blandly noted, “the site also experienced a loss of offsite power.”

For those who take a benign view of last week’s events, the NRC, which keeps two resident inspectors at each of the 104 U.S. NPPs, sent additional inspectors with satellite communications systems not only to Oyster Creek NPP, but eight other NPPs projected to lie in Hurricane Sandy’s path in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, and Connecticut. When winds greater than 75 miles per hour are expected, U.S.NPPs are required to shut down because of the possibility that the surrounding electrical grid will fail, forcing them to rely on backup diesel generators to power its cooling systems. In August 2011 when Hurricane Irene savaged the U.S. Atlantic coast Oyster Creek NPP was shut down for this reason. According to Nuclear Energy Institute spokesman Tom Kauffman, "This is nothing new—these plants have been through it all before, tornadoes, high winds, flooding conditions."

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No doubt the Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s executives made similar soothing noises about the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi NPP complex, until Mother Nature disabused them of their confidence on 11 March 2011.

So, New Jersey residents dodged the bullet – until perhaps next time, when storm winds might exceed 75 mph, or water surges above 7 feet. As Hurricane Sandy knocked out Oyster Creek NPP’s emergency sirens, then perhaps the NRC can issue its two onsite inspectors with whistles so they can notify the local citizens should a future “incident” there rise beyond level two.

By. John C.K. Daly of Oilprice.com


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Leave a comment
  • Bob Toombs on November 09 2012 said:
    Interresting that a guy who is CEO of a biofuels company finds the need to write an article on nuclear power. As a NRC Licensed Senior Reactor Operator I wonder how much credibility I would have writing an article on all the people dieing of starvation because the cost of corn and soybeans has trippled in the last four years?
  • Mel Tisdale on November 10 2012 said:
    Come off it! The designers put diesel generators in NPP installations as backup in case of power line failure. So, Hurricane Sandy took out the power line and the diesel generators kicked in. So what? That's an SN not a SNAFU.

    If I remember correctly, Mr Daly wrote a similar anti-nuclear power article recently on this site. If he is, as Bob Toombs asserts, CEO of a biofuels company then one has to assume that from his position on high he has a better view of biofuels than the rest of us. Obviously, he can see how very risky a source of energy it is and has concluded that it needs all the help it can get. If that means spreading false alarm about nuclear power, then so be it.

    Thank goodness NP is operationally carbon free. It is inevitable that it will be the energy supply of choice in the very near future. This summer was bad enough, despite being under La Niña conditions. Now we have an El Niño building and if it proves to be as severe as the 1998 one, heaven help us. One thing is sure: there are going to be some very embarrassed climate change skeptics about the place and some urgent calls from the public for action on it.

    As long as the Greens put the planet ahead of their prejudice, NPP will be very high on the public’s wish list. The last thing we need is loads of ugly wind turbines and biofuels putting up food prices, as though food doesn’t cost more than enough as it is.

Leave a comment




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