In a related story, a nuclear engineer turned whistleblower claims the NRC is covering up flooding threats to domestic nuclear reactors. Last year, the Fort Calhoun facility near Omaha, NE was surrounded by Missouri flood waters. Richard Perkins, a risk analyst, says the agency falsely invoked security precautions to redact large portions of a report concerning the agency's preliminary investigation into flood risks due to upstream dam failures. Perkins suggests the real reason for the redactions was to keep the public from learning of the extent of nuclear plant vulnerabilities. The Oconee nuclear facility near Seneca, SC is viewed as particularly vulnerable to a flood caused by a dam breach. If the Oconee facility were hit by a dam breach "tsunami", it would almost certainly suffer a meltdown according to agency engineers. Flooding potential at the Fort Calhoun station, Prairie Island and Watts Bar stations were also examined in the report. It concluded that a formal investigation was warranted because "external flooding...poses a larger risk than expected to plants and public safety." The agency argues the report contains "proprietary commercial information"; however, Homeland Security has approved the releasing the report to the public without redactions.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Second Belgium Reactor Cracked
Previously reported in this space was the discovery of a cracked Belgium reactor core {Doel3}. A second cracked reactor core has been found at Tihange 2, a 1000MW generating facility operated by GDF Suez. Belgium regulatory authorities (FANC) ordered a review of all the nation's reactors after cracks were discovered at Doel 3. The Belgium government delayed closing its oldest nuclear plant by a decade over concerns that the country would not be able to generate enough alternative energy. Two of the nation's seven reactors will be offline due to the faults. Officials now maintain there will be sufficient energy to meet the country's needs. The defunct Dutch company Rotterdam Drydock was responsible for manufacturing the latest vessel discovered to have faults. The company also manufactured vessels and equipment for 10 reactors in the United States. So far the NRC has not responded to the discovery of cracks in Europe.
In a related story, a nuclear engineer turned whistleblower claims the NRC is covering up flooding threats to domestic nuclear reactors. Last year, the Fort Calhoun facility near Omaha, NE was surrounded by Missouri flood waters. Richard Perkins, a risk analyst, says the agency falsely invoked security precautions to redact large portions of a report concerning the agency's preliminary investigation into flood risks due to upstream dam failures. Perkins suggests the real reason for the redactions was to keep the public from learning of the extent of nuclear plant vulnerabilities. The Oconee nuclear facility near Seneca, SC is viewed as particularly vulnerable to a flood caused by a dam breach. If the Oconee facility were hit by a dam breach "tsunami", it would almost certainly suffer a meltdown according to agency engineers. Flooding potential at the Fort Calhoun station, Prairie Island and Watts Bar stations were also examined in the report. It concluded that a formal investigation was warranted because "external flooding...poses a larger risk than expected to plants and public safety." The agency argues the report contains "proprietary commercial information"; however, Homeland Security has approved the releasing the report to the public without redactions.
In a related story, a nuclear engineer turned whistleblower claims the NRC is covering up flooding threats to domestic nuclear reactors. Last year, the Fort Calhoun facility near Omaha, NE was surrounded by Missouri flood waters. Richard Perkins, a risk analyst, says the agency falsely invoked security precautions to redact large portions of a report concerning the agency's preliminary investigation into flood risks due to upstream dam failures. Perkins suggests the real reason for the redactions was to keep the public from learning of the extent of nuclear plant vulnerabilities. The Oconee nuclear facility near Seneca, SC is viewed as particularly vulnerable to a flood caused by a dam breach. If the Oconee facility were hit by a dam breach "tsunami", it would almost certainly suffer a meltdown according to agency engineers. Flooding potential at the Fort Calhoun station, Prairie Island and Watts Bar stations were also examined in the report. It concluded that a formal investigation was warranted because "external flooding...poses a larger risk than expected to plants and public safety." The agency argues the report contains "proprietary commercial information"; however, Homeland Security has approved the releasing the report to the public without redactions.