Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Nuclear Power and Earthquake Safety Debate Goes National

After decades of debate along the west coast, concerns regarding the safety and reliability of nuclear power in the face of an earthquake have gained national prominence.

Last week’s quake in Mineral, Virginia was measured at 5.8 on the Richter scale. Ten miles away at the North Anna Nuclear Generating Station, both of the plant’s generators automatically shut down. The facility, designed to withstand a 6.2 caliber quake, took 1.79 gigawatts of production offline when it closed. Dominion Virginia Power, the plant’s owner, says that’s enough juice to power 450,000 homes.

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission survey in 2010 estimated the odds of a quake strong enough to cause core damage at North Anna in any given year at 1 in 22,737. By contrast, the likelihood of similar disaster befalling California’s nuclear facilities was ranked at 1 in 23,810 for the central coast’s Diablo Canyon, and 1 in 58,824 for the local San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

Further, with no outside power coming into the site, four backup diesel generators were required to keep cooling water circulating around the reactors to prevent a possible meltdown. One of the generators failed, and a fifth was brought in. In a letter to Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Greg Jaczko urging stronger maintenance requirements for the backup generators, Assemblyman Edward J. Markey documents 74 such generator failures during plant shutdowns over the last eight years. Similar failures of backup power equipment were responsible for the meltdown at Fukushima in March.

“The Fukushima meltdown was a long-distance warning to the U.S. nuclear industry to bolster its safety systems, including backup power reliability and redundancy,” the Massachusetts Democrat wrote. “The Virginia earthquake is now our local 911 call to stop delaying the implementation of stricter safety standards.”

Other concerns regarding the storage of spent fuel in the east parallel those closer to home at California’s San Onofre and Diablo Canyon nuclear facilities. Without an operational storage site anywhere in the country, spent fuel is often stored in overcrowded water pools that require constant circulation to keep the fuel cool and stable. An alternative method involves sealing fuel in large, sealed concrete storage casks, which require no power and have no moving parts, making them less susceptible to failure or terrorist attack. Much of the United States’ 65,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel, however, remains in water pools.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Tuna within 3-day range Back in the Counts

Mind the rockfish regulations
Next Article

Live Five: Songwriter Sanctuary, B-Side Players, The Crawdaddys, Saint Luna, Brawley

Reunited, in the round, and onstage in Normal Heights, East Village, Little Italy, Encinitas

After decades of debate along the west coast, concerns regarding the safety and reliability of nuclear power in the face of an earthquake have gained national prominence.

Last week’s quake in Mineral, Virginia was measured at 5.8 on the Richter scale. Ten miles away at the North Anna Nuclear Generating Station, both of the plant’s generators automatically shut down. The facility, designed to withstand a 6.2 caliber quake, took 1.79 gigawatts of production offline when it closed. Dominion Virginia Power, the plant’s owner, says that’s enough juice to power 450,000 homes.

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission survey in 2010 estimated the odds of a quake strong enough to cause core damage at North Anna in any given year at 1 in 22,737. By contrast, the likelihood of similar disaster befalling California’s nuclear facilities was ranked at 1 in 23,810 for the central coast’s Diablo Canyon, and 1 in 58,824 for the local San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

Further, with no outside power coming into the site, four backup diesel generators were required to keep cooling water circulating around the reactors to prevent a possible meltdown. One of the generators failed, and a fifth was brought in. In a letter to Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Greg Jaczko urging stronger maintenance requirements for the backup generators, Assemblyman Edward J. Markey documents 74 such generator failures during plant shutdowns over the last eight years. Similar failures of backup power equipment were responsible for the meltdown at Fukushima in March.

“The Fukushima meltdown was a long-distance warning to the U.S. nuclear industry to bolster its safety systems, including backup power reliability and redundancy,” the Massachusetts Democrat wrote. “The Virginia earthquake is now our local 911 call to stop delaying the implementation of stricter safety standards.”

Other concerns regarding the storage of spent fuel in the east parallel those closer to home at California’s San Onofre and Diablo Canyon nuclear facilities. Without an operational storage site anywhere in the country, spent fuel is often stored in overcrowded water pools that require constant circulation to keep the fuel cool and stable. An alternative method involves sealing fuel in large, sealed concrete storage casks, which require no power and have no moving parts, making them less susceptible to failure or terrorist attack. Much of the United States’ 65,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel, however, remains in water pools.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Onofre to Remain Offline Through Summer

Next Article

San Onofre Faces More Challenges on Multiple Fronts

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader