Several days ago I wrote a post about the impact of Hurricane Sandy on nuclear reactors on in the East Coast of the United States. With respect to a particular reactor, I wrote:
“Public Service Enterprise Group manually shut down its Salem Unit 1 reactor near Wilmington, Delaware because four of the six pumps that circulate cooling water were no longer functioning. A lot of grass and debris were brought in by the storm and could have clogged the water circulation system.”
I concluded that post by saying that the nuclear plant operators had the situation under control and that there was no risk to the public. Since then, I have seen and posted links that call that assessment, especially with respect to the Salem reactors, into question.
There have been several reports since that post that suggest that there may be problems with the spent fuel pools at the Salem nuclear plant.. Five of the six pumps that circulate cooling water for the Unit 1 reactors were damaged and had to be shut down. One of the cooling pumps for the Unit 2 reactor lost power and shut down.
When power is lost at nuclear plants or the coolant pumps are damaged, there can be problems with cooling the fuel rods being stored in the fuel rod pool. Without pumps to circulate the coolant in the pool, the temperature rises. If it gets hot enough to boil off the water in the pool, the rods will be exposed to the air and may begin to burn, releasing toxic smoke and particulates into the atmosphere.
This is a great concern at Fukushima because of the spent fuel pool on the fourth floor of the damaged Unit 4 reactor building. If there is another quake or hurricane and the building collapses, the rods will burn and release huge amounts of radioactivity into the atmosphere. The winds will carry the plume around the planet, threatening everyone in the Northern Hemisphere.
Salem Unit 2 reactor was in refueling mode with most of the fuel rods in the pool and lost power to one of its cooling pumps. The pump has been repaired and the reactor is back in service. The reports of dangers to the spent fuel rods pool at Salem Unit 21 claim that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was aware of the potential danger but that neither the NRC or the company that operates the plant released that information to the national media.
. The Salem Unit 1was operating at 100% when the storm hit. Some of the reactor operators on the East Coast choose to reduce the power output of their reactors or to shut them down entirely as Hurricane Sandy approached. Continuing to run at one hundred percent power as a hurricane is approaching is probably not a good idea.
With the increase in extreme weather events and the experience of problems with the Fukushima tsunami and the flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy, it would be a good idea for the NRC to review its recommended procedures in case of storms and flooding for nuclear plant operators. Information on potential dangers resulting from storm and flood damage need to be communicated to the public in a timely fashion. If we are going to continue to make use of nuclear power for generating electricity, then the government and the industry are going to have to have the confidence of the public.
Salem Nuclear Power Plant:
