Technology

Cause to Worry? VA Earthquake Shifted Nuclear Power Plant Storage Casks

Last week, a nuclear power plant near the Mineral, Va., epicenter of the 5-8 magnitude earthquake that rocked the East Coast was taken offline. At the time, officials said “as far as they knew, everything was safe.” While that’s still the case, further investigation into the damage revealed reports 25 of 27 spent-fuel storage casks shifted 1 to 4 inches.

How this will affect the plant is still being investigated. The reactors have remained offline since the earthquake.

USA Today has more:

“They vibrated,” but each of the 16-foot-tall, 115-ton casks remained upright, safe and “fully intact,” said Richard Zuercher, spokesman for Dominion Virginia Power, which runs the North Anna Power Station near the quake’s epicenter in Mineral, Va. He said the shifting was noticed shortly after the quake Aug. 23 but wasn’t reported to the public, because “it was not considered damage.”

This is the first time nuclear storage casks have moved as a result of an earthquake in the USA, says David McIntyre, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC sent additional inspectors Tuesday to the facility after Dominion reported last Friday that the “seismic activity potentially exceeded” the plant’s design.

The North Anna plant was built to withstand shaking of 12% to 18% of the force of gravity, which USA Today reported Dominion spokesman Jim Norvelle as saying is equal to magnitude 5.9 to 6.2. Dominion, according to Zuercher, is still analyzing data from ground sensors: “It’s complicated,” he said.

The Washington Post reported that the 25 0r 27 casks that moved were located on one concrete pad. There are 53 total casks on two separate pads. These casks store spent fuel rods, which can remain radioactive for thousands of years. The Washington Post has more on the casks:

“This indicates that reactors that have these dry casks in these earthquake-prone areas, they’re going to have to do more to protect them from ground motion,” said Robert Alvarez of the Institute for Policy Studies, who has extensively studied nuclear waste storage. “One thing is to bolt them to the pads, and that’s not a Home Depot-type job. The pads themselves also need to be examined to see if they’re durable enough.”

. . .

Dry casks were designed for temporary storage, Alvarez said, but they have become de facto long-term waste warehouses because the United States has not built a permanent waste repository.

According to the NRC, 55 sites in the United States have nuclear waste in dry-cask storage, including two sites in Virginia and one in Maryland, at the Calvert Cliffs facility in Lusby.

The federal government in 1986 began planning to move the nation’s nuclear waste to a permanent repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. But President Obama defunded the partially built project and declared it closed.

While the final report on how the earthquake affected the casks is still out, other reported damage was minimal at the plant.

Comments (39)

  • truthbased
    Posted on September 4, 2011 at 10:12pm

    science will find use of the the spent fuel and the more we look into it the faster it will happen

    Report Post »  
  • freedomislikeair
    Posted on September 4, 2011 at 5:09pm

    lets start a new space industry flying spent nuclear waste into the biggest nuclear reaction in our universe , the sun. just hope it doesn’t malfuntion and land back on earth, like iran or some other hate america country

    Report Post »  
  • Ghandi was a Republican
    Posted on September 4, 2011 at 2:17pm

    Dump the crappp in a mile deep man made well and pour a layer of lead laced concrete as a barrier as you go.. Do this om some established test site in the desert or Syberia. Whats’ the problem?

    Report Post » Ghandi was a Republican  
  • Ghandi was a Republican
    Posted on September 4, 2011 at 2:16pm

    Dump the crappp in a mile deep man made well and pour a layer of lead laced concrete as a barrier as you go.. Do this on bikini island or some other test site in the desert or Syberia. Whats’ the problem?

    Report Post » Ghandi was a Republican  
  • Ghandi was a Republican
    Posted on September 4, 2011 at 2:08pm

    Shifted.. Sounds like the design worked exactly as planned.. It is the perfect outcome as opposed to MOT shifting. This is what you do with concrete and steel everywhere..

    Report Post » Ghandi was a Republican  
  • JimSB
    Posted on September 4, 2011 at 10:41am

    I found an interesting link – http://world-nuclear.org/info/inf69.html
    A cursory read of this suggests that new technology would reduce/eliminate much of the waste disposal problem, which is the only problem I have had with Western style nuclear plants (note – NOT Chernobyl style). Political agreements/treaties preventing reprocessing were based on the old technology, the products of which are unfortunately useful for weapons/proliferation. The new technology looks like it consumes most/all of the long half-life products or converts them into short half-life products, thus eliminating the need for perpetual underground storage. Of course, a fear of nuke plants continues, even when a possibly worst-case scenario in Japan did not result in massive deaths. I only hope that politicians will not wipe out the nuclear power industry because of irrational fears.

    Report Post »  
    • venture291
      Posted on September 4, 2011 at 12:51pm

      Finally people are starting to hear this and we can stop the money spigot for Yucca polititions and lobbiests. They have been dragging their feet on this cash cow (from tax payeres) for decades!!!
      We can burn the material in Yucca and have a very efficient reactor without this problem. Still a few kinks to work out but well on the way. No green house gases should keep ilgore happy (if he truely cared about the environment that is) and thorium is very abundant in the earth, also no enrichment nessesary.
      Other countries are already ahead of us check out that site http://energyfromthorium.com/

      We can even build a portable hot tub size and operate it safely to power communities and clutered building complexes thus eliminating the wasteful power grid loss. (won’t make Jeff with GE happy)

      It figures it would be the inteligent GB fans who are on this critical subject!! We don’t have much time to waste now on political/lobbiest BS anymore. We need to be pro-active to make it happen. Citizen lobbiest sounds so good, new leadership also needed to make us that shinning star again that my parents fought so hard for..

      I am a power plant operator and have helped design commercial office building HVAC plants for 30 years so I know a little.

      Report Post »  
  • Jeffrey777
    Posted on September 3, 2011 at 3:15pm

    Problem solved. Give the stuff to Iran so they can speed up their developement of nukes.

    Report Post »  
  • jaylew
    Posted on September 2, 2011 at 7:07pm

    encinom…..this thread is about nuclear power plants and the effect(s) an earthquake might have upon them……how did you manage to turn the conversation into an old white racist tea party conversation? Perhaps you could define how the quantum mechanics in your thought process could fuel the future world? ****well you sees i takes the subject…and then turns it intos a different subject and thens I brings up Tea Bags and racists and then theres you have it….mental mulch******
    cripes.

    Report Post » jaylew  
  • mikenleeds
    Posted on September 2, 2011 at 5:20pm

    BIG DEAL , t hey are made to shift in case of a earthquake ,
    why don t we get real and start putting Americans back to work

    Report Post » mikenleeds  
  • Itchee Dryback
    Posted on September 2, 2011 at 4:19pm

    Not to diminish the event…I can’t help but wonder where all the “dead zones” and mutated zombies are from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From a ground zero hit and no containment..where are all the mutants? Shouldn’t the area be dead for about a brazillion years?

    Report Post »  
  • Roros
    Posted on September 2, 2011 at 2:48pm

    Man, there our words you say to discribe enept.

    Report Post »  
  • woodge
    Posted on September 2, 2011 at 1:26pm

    Uranium is a worthless fuel any way. Thorium is the way to go. LFTR’s will power the entire planet AND desalinate water, with about 0.001% the waste of conventional reactors, which is only dangerous for 300 years instead of 10,000 years (LWR).
    Do your homework! Learn something useful today. Start at: energyfromthorium.com

    Report Post » woodge  
    • Itchee Dryback
      Posted on September 2, 2011 at 4:12pm

      Having done the homework..what are the problems with thorium?

      Report Post »  
    • Chuck Stein
      Posted on September 2, 2011 at 4:18pm

      Right on!
      A lot of good info at http://energyfromthorium.com/
      Also, while LFTRs (Liquide Flouride Thorium Reactors) are really attractive (and the technology has been PROVEN since the 1960′s), there are other ways of using Thorium for nuclear power. For example, the Shippingport reactor showed that a light water breeder reactor was possible.

      Report Post »  
    • Itchee Dryback
      Posted on September 2, 2011 at 5:27pm

      Developing a thorium-based fuel cycle

      Despite the thorium fuel cycle having a number of attractive features, development has always run into difficulties.

      The main attractive features are:

      The possibility of utilising a very abundant resource which has hitherto been of so little interest that it has never been quantified properly.
      The production of power with few long-lived transuranic elements in the waste.
      Reduced radioactive wastes generally.

      The problems include:

      The high cost of fuel fabrication, due partly to the high radioactivity of U-233 chemically separated from the irradiated thorium fuel. Separated U-233 is always contaminated with traces of U-232 (69 year half-life but whose daughter products such as thallium-208 are strong gamma emitters with very short half-lives). Although this confers proliferation resistance to the fuel cycle by making U-233 hard to handle and easy to detect, it results in increased costs.
      The similar problems in recycling thorium itself due to highly radioactive Th-228 (an alpha emitter with two-year half life) present.
      Some concern over weapons proliferation risk of U-233 (if it could be separated on its own), although many designs such as the Radkowsky Thorium Reactor address this concern.
      The technical problems (not yet satisfactorily solved) in reprocessing solid fuels. However, with some designs, in particular the molten salt reactor (MSR), these problems are likely to largely disappear.

      Report Post »  
    • venture291
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 12:12am

      We need to get the word out to more people on thorium fuel. The NRC and other’s have been fear mongering for decades on this. As FBI say‘s follow the money when you can’t understand a crime. To me this is almost a crime not to be looking at the future of the country as you where elected to do. Hear are a few benifits from http://energyfromthorium.com/
      1. fuel plentiful and disregarded now as waste product when minning rare earth metals
      2. reactors don’t melt down with water or power interuption
      3. can’t easily be used for making bombs
      4. very efficient burn, 90% or more fuel consumed
      5. we can burn used fuel stashed away at Yucca Mtn making this a non-issue for present and future storage material (don’t let that secret out, this is progressives ace in a hole)
      There are other benifits and unfortunatly I beleive India and UAI will be the first countries to see it happen. Also there is the CANDO reactor used in Canada today that I beleive can retrofit today for thorium. I beleive Australia has worlds largest supply of thorium we are the second most and we are talking 300 years or more supply. Plus burn spent uranium, many years there too.
      A few bugs to get out still but we can do it safely if we have the will and don’t let the fear mongers in the drivers seat. Look at our nuk subs very safe, redundance and attention to every detail did the trick.
      Oh and get the polititions and lobbiest’s out of the way. We need to have power if we are to survive and thrive.

      Report Post »  
  • sub veteran
    Posted on September 2, 2011 at 12:08pm

    I have been involved in Nuclear Power since the early 70′s and the federal goverment was supposed to resolve the spent fuel storage then with a single disposal site. As usual it hasn’t had the courage to do so and the result was the plant had to consturct temporary storage. This will remain a probles until the feds get off their a** and put this material in the underground storge facility, Once this is done more plant can be built to give us energy independence

    Report Post »  
    • Sr Newk
      Posted on September 2, 2011 at 9:55pm

      Having over 20 years in the nuclear field couldn’t have said it any better. Until we get someone in the governments departments of energy to stop worrying about politics and cares about what happens with our nation’s power systems, the nuclear industry will never get on its feet again. Talk about creating jobs with infrastructure, this is one area we need both the power and the jobs.

      Report Post » Sr Newk  
    • Deb C
      Posted on September 3, 2011 at 10:23am

      I thought thats what the moon shuttle with payload carrrying capabilities was designed for.

      Report Post » Deb C  
    • venture291
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 6:04pm

      Thanks for your service sir. The people (follow the money) have been scamming us for decades regarding testing testing and more testing at Yucca. Sort of like the global warming opps I mean now its climate change. Combined with scare tactic, sheeple and it has worked up until now just fine. Uranium is hopefully soon to be old technology. Please check out http://energyfromthorium.com/ and spread the word. I read about this in an article in American Legion (ex navy also) newsletter I think in 2004 wish i would have kept it. India and UAE are ahead of us and may make the breakthroughs thus patents we where on the cusp of doing before it got corrupted.
      Thanks for taking your time to reading my post. GB readers are going to get er done.

      Report Post »  
  • capitalismrocks
    Posted on September 2, 2011 at 11:55am

    This again proves our Nuclear Plants are far safer then anyone elses, nice job. Now lets examine the data and further improve safety – keep up the superb job nuclear plant operators! Wish we had 100 or more of the new 1000X safer Breeder Reactors, and we could start to cycle off the older Second Generation Reactors…

    Oh, by the way — Breeder Reactors can run on the spent fuel rods from 2nd gen reactors!!!

    MORE NUCLEAR NOW!!! IT IS THE GREEN POWER OF TOMORROW !!!

    Report Post » capitalismrocks  
    • Gunwacko
      Posted on September 2, 2011 at 3:35pm

      Hasn’t it occured to anyone yet what would happen if our power grid was knocked out for a while? One massive solar flare would blow out our grid and with no way to cool the reactors…..BOOM. Japan all over again..but instead of being 1000′s of miles away, we have 104 operating reactors ALL going critical here on our homeland. All that it would take is something like a massive solar flare or even one small meteor to hit and the entire planet would be radiated with this “safe” source of energy. Who needs enemies when you have lobbyists pushing for this extremely dangerous source of power? There are a total of 432 operating reactors on Earth. It’s a catastrophe just waiting to happen. There is absolutely NO WAY POSSIBLE to supply enough diesel fuel on a global scale to every reactor if we are hit by an X-class solar flare..and we are entering into a period of solar storms that will be the biggest in history. Don‘t say that I didn’t warn you. Another scary scenario: one nuke used by terrorists detonated above America would wipe out our power grid for a year with an electromagnetic pulse. Now they have 104 ticking nuke bombs. Especially when the FUEL is cut off by our enemies who sell it to us. We cannot process enough fuel here in the states to keep up with that type of demand…let alone the logistics involved getting it there! Do you see a pattern developing with the Arab nations…? We are screwed no matter how you look at this – I‘m just sayin’.

      Report Post » Gunwacko  
    • Chuck Stein
      Posted on September 2, 2011 at 4:26pm

      @ Gunwacko
      While your post contains a lot of hyperbole, you do raise a good point about backup cooling: are the diesel backup systems either hardened against EMP or solar flares and (if they are not), can they be started without electricity. My hunch (and that is all it is) is that they can be started by compressed air — not electric solenoid.
      One way to completely eliminate the LOCA (Loss of Cooling Accident) hazard is by using “freeze plugs” in molten salt reactors (such as the LFTR).

      Report Post »  
  • phamill
    Posted on September 2, 2011 at 11:36am

    My only problem with nuclear is the waste. So why can’t we build new COAL,and Natural gas power plants???

    Report Post » phamill  
    • ida-russkie
      Posted on September 3, 2011 at 9:05am

      Did you know that when you burn coal you also release the thorium, uranium and radium that is contained in the coal? Coal plants are not without their ash piles. Nuclear waste is such a political problem. The engineering has been solved years ago. These casks shifting is like your car moving. gee big deal.

      If you reprocess the fuel you remove the long loved fission products and burn them in a FAST reactor. If you trans-mutate the fission products you do not have to store the waste as long. 500 years verses 100,000 years.

      A molten salt reactor, of which LFTR is one kind, reprocess the fuel online.

      The problems with a molten salt reactor are materials and commercial scale design issues. It uses high temperature nickel alloys. But they can be made walk away safe and use no coolant water.

      Report Post »  
    • Chuck Stein
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 3:09am

      There are a number of reactor designs that use “spent” nuclear fuel. Also, a lot of the fission products in spent fuel are either valuable metals (like Rhodium and Silver) or can be used for their radiation — as with strontium 90 (for remote radioisotope thermocouple generators) and its “daughter” isotope (yttrium 90) for cancer treatment. One man’s “waste” is another man’s gold mine.

      Report Post »  
  • Desert Dog
    Posted on September 2, 2011 at 11:33am

    Carter shot down the reprocessing plants in the 70′s and now Obama has shut down Yucca. Seems they are in some other world. Nuclear energy can be the answer to a lot of energy problems if the government would just get out of the way. Lessons are always learned. Three Mile Island was a big learning event and the Japanese plants taught us all about where to locate any new plants.
    If Yucca was open and DOT would allow shipment of casks, as they do in other countries, they wouldn’t have been there. And the casks did their job. And even if they fell over they would have retained their integrity. They are designed to withstand a lot more than that.
    And by the way, I retired from the Nuclear Industry.

    Report Post » Desert Dog  
  • ejbonk
    Posted on September 2, 2011 at 11:24am

    These Dry Casks are fine. They are built to an extreme degree. They rode out the Quake and danced around on their concrete pads like a sealed Full tupperware container of Salt on the the table while your 5 year old shakes the legs of the table. WHO Wrote this piece of Liberal Fear Mongering Crap?

    Report Post »  
  • V-MAN MACE
    Posted on September 2, 2011 at 11:22am

    They’re always lying.

    They build these things directly on fault lines in historical active areas.

    They’re still lying to us about the full scale nuclear meltdown in Japan that is sending plumes of radioactive cesium into our atmosphere and raining it down across the Northern Hemisphere.

    They’re putting uranium in the water in Texas- on purpose.

    Report Post » V-MAN MACE  
    • encinom
      Posted on September 2, 2011 at 12:47pm

      Stop it the lies from Disinfowars. Alex Jones needs fools like you to support his sponsors and help pay for his life style.

      Please listen to his 12/31/1999 broadcast and then try to tell me he is honest and not a snake-oil salesman.

       
    • sWampy
      Posted on September 2, 2011 at 12:56pm

      You do realize modern plants are designed where if they melt down, it’s not a big deal, the radioactive material melts, flows onto structures designed to spread it out and cool it down where it can be contained and collected.

      Report Post »  
    • NeoFan
      Posted on September 2, 2011 at 1:22pm

      What is the number of dead from the Japan nuclear disaster now? Its like 700 million now right? Just kill yourself now while you still have the strength.

      Report Post »  
    • Mil-Dot
      Posted on September 2, 2011 at 2:28pm

      News Flash: The public is never told ANYTHING. Who is suprised by this? An alien from Neptune could have lunch with Obama and we wouldn’t be told about it. There could be a crack 5 inches wide and 20 feet long in the reactor vessel and we wouldn’t be told about it. Not until all of the govt officials were safely out of the country that is.

      Report Post »  
    • decendentof56
      Posted on September 3, 2011 at 6:40am

      ENCINOM…..
      “And the facist nature of the Tea-Party raises its head. There is nothing democratic or freedom loving about a group of paranoid, racist, ignorant, old white people.”

      Of course, you’ll prove those above words with fact, right? After that you can prove Maxine Waters and the CBC is not racist. They are members of a ‘Black’ caucus, are they not? Did anyone ever say the TP was a ‘White’ caucus? Do they only allow White people to attend?
      If they do, explain why we have Blacks at our meetings. You have all the answers, don’t you?

      Report Post »  
  • encinom
    Posted on September 2, 2011 at 11:12am

    Of course, Rep. Cantor sees no problem with cutting funding to the agencies that monitor for earthquakes and hurricanes, as well as cutting FEMA funding or looking for offets if an event occurs. Then their are safety regualations Cantor and the Tea-PArty want toe eliminate. Oh, by the way this plant is in Cantor’s district, I am asking you God Fearing Christians, is this God’s subtle hint to Cantor that God thinks he is wrong, given that the earthquake was also in Cantor’s district.

     
    • NeoFan
      Posted on September 2, 2011 at 3:48pm

      When we take power there wont be a DOE or FEMA. It will be time for you to grow up and take care of yourself.

      Report Post »  
    • Itchee Dryback
      Posted on September 2, 2011 at 4:25pm

      Haven’t heard about any of that.
      Using your knowledge base, what areas does he want to cut and which safety regulations do they want to get rid of?

      Report Post »  
    • encinom
      Posted on September 2, 2011 at 4:29pm

      NeoFan
      Posted on September 2, 2011 at 3:48pm
      When we take power there wont be a DOE or FEMA. It will be time for you to grow up and take care of yourself.
      ____________________________________
      And the facist nature of the Tea-Party raises its head. There is nothing democratic or freedom loving about a group of paranoid, racist, ignorant, old white people.

       

Sign In To Post Comments! Sign In

Sign Up For Our Newsletter!

Glenn Beck Radio

Listen to Glenn Beck 24/7 Listen Now
Restoring Love