Nuclear mattersEarthquake moves Virginia nuclear waste casks
Last week’s earthquake saw caused nuclear waste casks to move up to four inches, and concrete pieces to peel off in concrete bunkers used for storing nuclear waste; the NRC says the casks and bunkers were not damaged, and no radiation leaked out
Dry nuclear waste storage casks // Source: livedoor.jp
The North Santa Anna Power Station, a nuclear power station located near Louisa, Virginia, stores the radioactive nuclear waste the station generates in twenty-seven storage casks. The casks are 16-feet tall, and each is weighing 115 tons.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) says that last week’s earthquake moved, or shifted, twenty-five of these casks by as much as four inches. The casks were not damaged, and no radiation was released. The epicenter of the quake was less than twenty miles from the power plant. CNN quotes Roger Hannah, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to say that it was the first time such casks have been shifted by an earthquake in U.S. history, and that it was also the first time a quake of this magnitude was felt at a nuclear plant in the country.
Some of the spent fuel is being held at horizontal concrete bunkers, which are 16-feet long, weighing 50 tons each. The quake casued the concrete in some of these bunkers to come loose on the face.
The NRC says that an alert was declared at the North Anna station just after the quake struck. The plant’s two units shut down automatically after the facility lost off-site power. Emergency diesel generators provided power to cool the reactors until off-site power was restored a few hours later.
