US nuclear regulator monitoring plant after tornado

[Kokonoe]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, April 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. nuclear safety regulator said on Monday it was monitoring a Virginia nuclear power plant operated by Dominion Resources (D.N: Quote) after a tornado cut its electrical power on Saturday.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the Surry plant's diesel generators and safety systems operated as required, and that plant operators have partially restored off-site power to the plants. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton)

Read more: http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFWNA647820110418

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Also http://wamu.org/news/11/04/18/va_nuclear_power_plant_shuts_down_after_storm.php

Both reactors at the station shut down automatically as designed and backup diesel generators started immediately to provide the electricity necessary to maintain both units. A spokesperson for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says no release of radioactive material occurred beyond minor releases associated with normal station operations.

That release is below federally approved operating limits and poses no threat to station workers or the public, the NRC said in a statement released Sunday.

[aquart]

1. Oh.

[xchrom]

2. recommend

[MessiahRp]

3. WTH do we have to do to finally realize the reward is not worth the risk with these things?

Human beings are in general greedy and stupid.

Rp

[AtheistCrusader]

4. Looks like 'working as intended' to me.

[glinda]

5. Greed and ignorance will kill us. It is only a matter of time for our Nuclear disaster.

[qb]

6. Nuclear seems like a good option UNTIL something goes wrong,

I wonder what the eventual return on investment will be for owners of Tokyo Electric Power shares.

[cstanleytech]

7. I am confused

why would they need offsite power when they are generating power? Wouldnt it make more sense to have the main power onsite with the a backup power onsite as well and make the offsite power a 2nd backup if the onsite power and onsite backups fail?

[Earth_First]

9. Well, if there is an issue great enough onsite to require backup power solutions...

having the backup power supplies onsite would mostly likely be damaged as well.

:shrug:

[Yo_Mama]

10. It is not safe

Suppose a fault in the reactor occurred. The reactor would still need to be cooled but could not be run to generate power to cool it, so an EXTREMELY BAD SITUATION would develop. Therefore you have to have a backup system for power, and although it may appear paradoxical, offsite power for control (or backup onsite) is the safest way to do it.

The reactors will authomatically SCRAM, which stops fission, but the decay of the radioactive elements from the fission still produces considerable heat, although much less than during fission, and the heat drops off quite rapidly over a week.

There are also multiple cooling circuits so that if a fault in one occurs the reactor cooling will continue.

Some types of reactors have a system where leftover steam can be recycled to a system that circulates water too, but obviously that's temporary.

The power usually goes into batteries which directly feed power to the reactor's control systems. The batteries have a few hours of time left and the onsite power swings in to replace power flow to the batteries.

Specific info on Surrey here at a blog I found while googling:
http://atomicpowerreview.blogspot.com/2011/04/surry-power-station-tornado-touchdown.html

Waterford, which is I think about 25 miles from New Orleans, was without power for over a week from Katrina. And they were hit by the hurricane. They shut down fission proactively and ran fine on the onsite generators.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&sqi=2&ved=0CCUQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhome.engineering.iastate.edu%2F~jdm%2Fkatrina%2FData%2FElectricity%2FElectricity%2520Generation%2FNRC%2520reports%2520on%2520Waterford%2520nuclear%2520power%2520plant.doc&rct=j&q=Waterford%20Nuclear%20power%20plant%20Katrina&ei=jsmsTf6mIIfMgQfpsfmSDA&usg=AFQjCNEzV745gMbKnZI9pGP8Dxvang-bbQ&cad=rja

[uppityperson]

8. I'm glad the "plant's diesel generators and safety systems operated as required"