North Anna's Reactor and the Earthquake

Just a quick hit today on an article that appeared in the NY Times: "After East Coast Quake, Virginia Nuclear Plant Takes Stock."

Credit: Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times

I've been waiting for an assessment of the damage to the North Anna reactor after the quake. This reactor was rated prior to the quake as the "7th most At-Risk for Earthquake Damage" according the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). I found that story the day of the earthquake here in DC; it also said that North Anna was designed to withstand a magnitude 5.9 – 6.1 earthquake. Because our earthquake was rated as a 5.8-5.9, it quickly became clear that North Anna should be an area of concern. Although no one expected a Fukushima-style meltdown - it was the tsunami, not the earthquake, that did in their reactors - it is important that we learn how American reactors can stand up to trauma.

The New York Times article make clear that the jury is still out. The reactor has not yet come back on line after the quake, and the NRC is requiring them to prove that the damage to reactor was only cosmetic. The picture above shows how one of the 117 ton casks containing radioactive spent fuel shifted, it isn't clear that there was any real damage.