Alexander Higgins
Nuclear industry watchdogs warn the North Anna nuclear plant may be leaking radioactive tritium due to damage in underground pipes from the Virginia earthquake.
On August 24th, a 5.8 earthquake struck Mineral Virginia which sent shock waves all over the eastern seaboard being felt from Colorado to Massachusetts, from South Carolina to Ontario Canada, after which the media was silent on the fate of the North Anna nuclear plant which is located at the epicenter of the quake.
The quake caused damage over hundred miles away, most notably cracking the Washington Monument, and took both of the reactors at the North Anna plant offline due to the earthquake cutting off the electricity needed to cool the nuclear reactors. The loss of electricity due to the earthquake caused the Fukushima nuclear meltdown which raised fears the North Anna plant could suffer a similar fate.
However officials quoted the plant owner as saying the plant was operating normally on backup generators. We then learned that one of the four generators at the plant failed within minutes of being activated.
That was followed by assurances that no radiation was leaked from the plant even as the plant operator admitted the next day they were forced to vent steam from the reactor to prevent a Fukushima style “hydrogen” explosion at the reactor. While officials still asserted the plant was operating safely it begged the question of why the reactor needed to vent steam if the reactor was indeed being properly cooled.
The operator then admitted that radiation had in fact been leaked from the plant, but downplayed the leakage by saying the amount was miniscule and was inline with normal operations, even though the plant was shut down and was not be ran under “normal operation” procedures.
The dam at the nuclear plant has also been classified as a high-hazard by engineers and a local CBS affiliate in fact found over 2o inches of water was lost from the dam following the quake.
Complicating matters even further is officials gave conflicting statements about what triggered the shutdown at the nuclear plant. Some officials were quoted as saying the plant was manually shut down, claims which other officials said were untrue saying the quake triggered an automatic shutdown.
Adding to the concerns, there are now fears that pipes under the facility may be leaking radioactive tritium into the ground. In the past, nuclear plants have gone years and even decades without admitting to tritium radiation leaks.
We have learned that several crucial parts of the North Anna plant were not built to withstand earthquakes.
In fact, the NRC found several crucial parts of the power plant were not protected from earthquakes.
After Fukushima, but before the recent East Coast quake, the NRC began a review of U.S. nuclear plants and found a few “discrepancies” at North Anna including:
Portions of the water and gaseous suppression systems and hose stations are not seismically designed.
A fire-pump storage area is non-seismic.
Seismically designed floodwalls are located in the non-seismic turbine building.
Source: Energy News
Now, nuclear industry watchdogs are raising the alarm that the North Anna plant is likely leaking radiation from underground pipes following the earthquake.
To make matters worse, even given the known history of the nuclear industry covering up leaks, the government is refusing to do an independent inspection into the plants pipes.
Instead, as The Hook reports, the government will allow the plant operator to do their own inspection of the plant.
Link:
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/08/31/feds-allowing-tritium-radiation-catastrophe-cover-north-anna-va-nuclear-plant-66701/
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