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The Fukushima nuclear disaster which saw three reactors melt down was caused by a tidal wave that flooded the power plant and the emergency cooling generators. The wave was caused by an undersea earthquake. TEPCO, the owner of the Fukushima plant, knew that their plant might not be able to withstand a major tidal wave but did nothing about it before disaster struck.
Part of the problem at Fukushima was the design of the GE Mark II nuclear reactors there and the buildings that contained them. It turns out that there are twenty commercial power reactors in the U.S. that are based on the Mark II design.
Hurricane Florence is headed for the North Carolina coast and will arrive tomorrow. It will have winds of up to one hundred and thirty miles per hour and up to forty inches of rain in some areas. The storm track now looks like Florence will swerve into South Carolina and Georgia after it makes landfall. Up to six nuclear power plants in North Carolina are may hit by the storm. Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, all U.S. nuclear power plants were upgraded to better withstand storms and flooding.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is sending additional inspectors to check nuclear power plants in the path of the storm in North Carolina and South Carolina. They intend to provide around the clock support to the staffs at the nuclear power plants.
Duke Energy owns and operates the Brunswick Nuclear Generating Station in Brunswick County, North Carolina. It is located near the town of Southport which is on the Atlantic Ocean about thirty miles south of Wilmington. Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, a thorough safety inspection discovered that there were many possible areas where there could be leakage and water penetration of the plant that need to be repaired. There were missing seals, missing or corroded bolts, broken links of pressure plates, corrosion, open terminal boxes, gaps in weather stripping on doors and inadequate repairs of previous leakage.
The Brunswick power plant is twenty feet above sea level and can withstand a storm surge of about twenty-two feet. The plant’s emergency generators would be safe from such a surge. The plant is four miles from the ocean and Duke says that they can handle a Category 5 hurricane. Florence is expected to make landfall as a Category 4 storm with winds of about one hundred and thirty miles per hour. The power plant structures that house the reactors should be able to hold up against winds of that speed. However, an on-site inspector with the NRC said that flooding is a greater threat to the site with Florence predicted to drop up to 20 inches of rain in the area of the plant and generate a fifteen-foot storm surge.
The current track predicted for Florence is aimed straight at the Brunswick plant. Let us hope that the repairs and preparations will protect the plant and other nuclear plants in South Carolina. Nuclear plants have weathered other severe storms on the East Coast with minor damage and no major nuclear releases.