Exelon Nuclear reports no damage in today's 5.2 Illinois earthquake

[Shoelace]

Posted : Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:21:08 GMT

WARRENVILLE, Ill., April 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- None of Exelon Nuclear's six Illinois nuclear energy stations were affected by early morning seismic activity near the southern Illinois town of West Salem, the company said today.
Plant equipment continued to function normally at each of the six operating nuclear stations. Station operators and technical experts conducted extensive pre-planned inspections when the seismic activity occurred.
Operators performed "walk-downs" to search for potential effects and confirmed by this morning that the earthquake caused no damage to equipment or otherwise affected plant operations. Additional plant walk-downs are scheduled throughout the day. Each plant continued to operate at its normal power level throughout the morning.

Nuclear energy plants are designed specifically to withstand the impact of earthquakes and other severe acts of nature. The quake, reported to be at a magnitude of 5.2 in the Richter Scale, did not challenge the engineered design of any of the six plants. The epicenter was near West Salem, Illinois, about 80 miles east of St. Louis. The closest Exelon Nuclear facility is in Clinton in DeWitt County, about 140 miles north of West Salem.

Exelon operates six Illinois plants in Will, Ogle, DeWitt, Grundy, LaSalle and Rock Island counties. The company owns a non-operating plant in Lake County.
Exelon Corporation is one of the nation's largest electric utilities with approximately $19 billion in annual revenues.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/exelon-nuclear-reports-no-impact,358240.shtml

Note: The earthquake this morning is near the New Madrid Seismic zone which has seen earthquakes a large as 7.9 in 1812.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Seismic_Zone

[madokie]

1. the thought that they thought they might be is what worries me

what does a 7.9 quake do for their design. Would any of them be able to handle that without any problems I wonder?

[Shoelace]

3. that is what I wonder; how much "quake" can a nuclear power plant withstand?

I'd think someone here would probably know. I'm no expert but knowing that Bechtel uses/used substandard cement in building some of them doesn't set easy with me!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Actually, West Salem is on another fault line

Near New Madrid but not a part of that fault system. There have been three earthquakes off this fault that runs through West Salem that I know of--one in '68 and one in '72, as well as this one. Marion IL had damage to buildings in one of the earlier ones, but I forget which one. Towns on the New Madrid fault weren't effected. There doesn't appear to be a connection between the two as far as predicting earthquakes.

That being said, we're due for another big one on the New Madrid around 2012. Geological evidence shows they come about every 200 years.

[Shoelace]

4. thanks for the info

I was wondering about the relation to New Madrid this particular quake might have had. Somebody wondered aloud if all the flooding had anything to do with this quake? Dunno!