North Anna Nuclear Plant Forced To Vent Steam Following Power Failure From Virginia Earthquake

Should we not be more prepared? I hope everything works out. Best of luck to all in the area. Hopefully things arent as bad as they seem for a change. Take care everyone.

The Intel Hub
By Alexander Higgins
August 24, 2011

The North Anna nuclear power plant, hit by the Virginia Earthquake, was forced to release steam after losing electricity and a generator used to cool the plant failed.

Earlier today, two of the nuclear power plants at the epicenter of today’s 5.9 earthquake were taken offline due to a power outage.

The cooling functions at those plants were switched to run off emergency backup generators. 1 of the 4 generators failed within minutes despite an earlier NRC inspection and certification the generators were fit to use in the event of an emergency such as the one that happened today.

Source

CNN did not report on why was the plant forced to release steam when NRC officials reported the plant was in stable condition and operating normally on the back up generators.

Energy News posted the following photo of the reactor venting steam.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e194fb37274f.jpg[/atsimg]

North Anna Power plant reactors shuts down - 5 pm



ABC News also reports on the incident with an interview with famed nuclear physicist Michio Kaku

Sawyer: [...] When you have to go to the backup to the backup that doesn’t sound good.

Michio Kaku, Physicist: Not good at all. We just dodged a bullet on this one. There are 4 backup pumps, one of them is out… if all four go out then you are on the road to a full scale meltdown [...]

Source
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Not want to be sarcastic on this but this really sounds familiar to me. Where have I heard this before?

I hope that "mother nature" has satisfied his "hunger" by earthquakes for a while(and I want to mean - long time). At least until we solve this bunch of trojan horses that nuclear reactors are proving to be.

I noticed watching the news last night that the nuclear plants were shut down and safe. My first thought was...nope, they wont tell us anything other than it is all ok. Thank you for posting this article. Confirms my first thoughts.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

reply to post by RUSSO

Not want to be sarcastic on this but this really sounds familiar to me. Where have I heard this before?

Good point, and my thoughts exactly. Let's really hope we don't see a repeat here.

I had not heard anything but the "Everything is under control" assurances. Thanks for posting and staying on top of this situation.

reply to post by opal13


Let's keep hoping for the best, but with eyes wide open on this.

Stay tuned.

Do a bit of research.

The release of steam is not abnormal. I am LOOKING at a steam plume from a nuclear reactor out my window.

Safety of Nuclear Power Reactors

(updated 26 July 2011)
.
.
.
.
Scrams, Seismic shutdowns

A scram is a sudden reactor shutdown. When a reactor is scrammed, automatically due to seismic activity, or due to some malfunction, or manually for whatever reason, the fission reaction generating the main heat stops.

However, considerable heat continues to be generated by the radioactive decay of the fission products in the fuel. Initially, for a few minutes, this is great - about 7% of the pre-scram level.

But it drops to about 1% of the normal heat output after two hours, to 0.5% after one day, and 0.2% after a week. Even then it must still be cooled, but simply being immersed in a lot of water does most of the job after some time. When the water temperature is below 100°C at atmospheric pressure the reactor is said to be in "cold shutdown".
...

www.world-nuclear.org...

reply to post by crimvelvet


Hope you are right because:

North Anna Nuclear Reactors Only Designed to Withstand 5.9 - 6.1 Magnitude Earthquake

T An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale just occurred less than a hour ago. It's epicenter was in Mineral, VA—approximately 10 miles from two nuclear power reactors at the North Anna site. According to a representative of Dominion Power, the two reactors were designed to withstand a 5.9-6.1 quake. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) ranked the North Anna Reactors as being 7th in the nation in terms of earthquake risks.

Control rods are automatically inserted to halt a reactor, if it is impacted by an earthquake. However, the reactor core still has a large amount of decay heat that requires power to remove it if there is a loss of offsite power to prevent a melt down. It is reported that the North Anna reactors were shut down and is operating with back-up diesel generators. The failure to remove reactor decay heat is what led to severe accidents at the Fukusima nuclear site on Japan. It is not clear, at this time, what damage might have been sustained at the nuclear site.

The North Anna reactors are of the Westinghouse Pressurized Water design and went on line in 1979 and 1980 respectively. Since then the reactors have generated approximately 1,200 metric tons of nuclear spent fuel containing about 228,000 curies of highly radioactive materials—among the largest concentrations of radioactivity in the United States.

Nearly 40 percent of the radioactivity in the North Anna spent fuel pools is cesium-137—a long-lived radioisotope that gives off potentially dangerous penetrating radiation and also accumulates in food over a period of centuries. The North Anna Pools hold about 15-30 times more Cs-137 than was released by the Chernobyl accident in 1986. In 2003, IPS helped lead a study warning that drainage of a pool might cause a catastrophic radiation fire, which could render an area uninhabitable greater than that created by the Chernobyl accident.

The spent fuel pools at North Anna contain 4-5 times more than their original designs intended. As in Japan, all U.S. power nuclear power plant spent fuel pools do not have steel lined, concrete barriers that cover reactor vessels to prevent the escape of radioactivity. They are not required to have back-up generators to keep used fuel rods cool, if offsite power is lost. Even though they contain these very large amount of radioactivity, spent reactor fuel pools in the U.S. are mostly contained in ordinary industrial structures designed to protect them against the elements.

Source

How about doing a bit of DENY IGNORANCE.

Is there any one who wants to shut down the USA to bring about Global Governance 2025 ?

The answer is YES - the National Intelligence Council (NIC) or see 'Global Governance 2025′ by US & EU Intelligence Agencies

In 1970 Kissinger even told us how it was going to be done.
"Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people." Control money and you control the world."

And a follow up quote from the people who CONTROL the oil.

A quote from David Rockefeller's autobiography 'Memoirs' -

"For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world, if you will.

If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it."

Source: www.rense.com...

Nuclear energy breaks the stranglehold that the Bildeberg group has on the generation of power.

Dig deep enough and you find Rockefeller money behind the Nuclear Energy Scare and for that matter the "Global Warming" hoax.


WHO the heck do you think OWNS THE MEDIA???? The same media that has been promoting the Nuclear scare from day one???

How about the Morgan/Rockefellers and General Electric.

Who do you think FUNDED all that "Nuclear Medicine" they trot out to scare the bejeez out of us - The Rockefellers.

If the funding for all of this comes from the Rockefellers and the Morgans and the other Bildeberg, I would take it with a huge pinch of salt1

Remember the episode of the Simpsons where Homer intentionally gained, like 68 pounds, to go on disability?
He got to work from home, and had the choice from his computer to
VENT RADIOACTIVE GAS? YES OR NO?
he selected no
VENTING PREVENTS EXPLOSION.
I know it is just a cartoon, and a funny one at that back in the day this aired.
But I guess what I'm getting at is it could be much worse.
Disclaimer: I'm not a big nuclear power fan. I feel we have the resources and capability to create energy enough to suit our needs if the power companies simply used some of their profit to do this rather than give the cash overflow to all the big wigs. Aging infrastructure, my ass. They just don't wanna pay for it and are waiting for government kickbacks from their golf buddies.

reply to post by the owlbear


People should turn their eyes to japan and chernobyl and learn.

The question is..is the steam radioactive!
Remember months ago, that GE guy trying to assure nuclear energy was safe despite Fukashima? what a load of bull that was. HE should have said nothing* goes to show as long as oil and uranium are in power and control...thier will be no green energy for us. its for THEM not us.

Originally posted by RUSSO
reply to post by the owlbear

 

People should turn their eyes to japan and chernobyl and learn.

Ah, but there is the rub my friend. We have had several major nuclear disasters and some minor ones in the what,
The 50 or so years we've been utilizing this method? Profit before people.
As I was saying about the whole power infrastructure argument in the US...nearly all of the grid is privately owned and operated for power generation and billing. Rather than use their profits for the last hundred years plus of electricity, they instead gave fat checks to the exploiters. Now they expect the typical citizen to pay more so they can build more plants, update lines, etc. When the citizens find out a small windmill can power a neighborhood, I only hope energy co-ops spring up and stick out the middle finger to the man.

why does the op refer to mother nature as a "he" ?

Originally posted by ziggy1706
The question is..is the steam radioactive!

No, the pumps circulate the cooling water through the reactor to keep the core cool. The cooling water is not radioactive, in fact it's returned to public waterways (rivers) after cooling the reactor. The "waste heat" goes directly to the waterway. So there's a constant flow of fresh water from the river, through the reactor and back to the river. What happened here is one of the 4 pumps that circulate the water quit working, so not as much water was circulating through and steam pressure built up inside the reactor and had to be vented. No biggie, it's nothing to be concerned about. If all 4 pumps quit working then no cooling water is circulated and the core starts boiling the water. If the water level drops below the core, then a meltdown starts to occur. This is exactly what happened in Fukushima, the pumps all failed because there was an electrical outage AND the generators didn't function.

Originally posted by the owlbear
When the citizens find out a small windmill can power a neighborhood, I only hope energy co-ops spring up and stick out the middle finger to the man.

I assume you're talking about a wind turbine, and no, a small one cannot power a whole neighborhood. It can't even power one house. A four footer rated for a thousand watts generates about 200 watts in 15 mph wind. That's enough to handle a few lights and an efficient fridge. For comparison, a home air conditioner draws around 5000 watts, an electric stove (one burner) 2500 watts, and an oven 3000 watts. Wind generation just isn't reasonable for the costs involved, solar is a lot more interesting.

Originally posted by SavedOne

Originally posted by the owlbear
When the citizens find out a small windmill can power a neighborhood, I only hope energy co-ops spring up and stick out the middle finger to the man.

I assume you're talking about a wind turbine, and no, a small one cannot power a whole neighborhood. It can't even power one house. A four footer rated for a thousand watts generates about 200 watts in 15 mph wind. That's enough to handle a few lights and an efficient fridge. For comparison, a home air conditioner draws around 5000 watts, an electric stove (one burner) 2500 watts, and an oven 3000 watts. Wind generation just isn't reasonable for the costs involved, solar is a lot more interesting.





Let's get it done then!!! F them power companies. How can we organize this without breaking t&c rules with our hosts...

Any steam plant coal or nuke have to vent after a trip,heavy vibration will cause a turbine to trip automatically to reduce damage in case of turbine failure

reply to post by SavedOne

According to an NRC manual on Pressurized Water Reactors:
www.nrc.gov...

There are only three pumps on the North Anna reactors:

A three-loop Westinghouse plant has three steam generators,three reactor coolant pumps, and a pressurizer. The three-loop units in the United States are Beaver Valley 1 and 2, Farley 1 and 2, H. B. Robinson 2, North Anna 1 and 2, Shearon Harris 1, V. C. Summer, Surry 1 and 2, and Turkey Point 3 and 4.

Page 4-5
I'm guessing the steam venting may have been a consequence of power loss to the secondary cooling system that generates steam to in turn generate power, not any kind of failure of the reactor pumps. If the steam condensers quit receiving cooling water then you have to vent the steam to continue the cooling process:

Even after the reactor has been shutdown, there is a significant amount of heat produced by the decay of fission products (decay heat). The amount of heat produced by decay heat is sufficient to cause fuel damage if not removed....The auxiliary feedwater system and the steam dump system (turbine bypass valves) work together to allow the operators to remove the decay heat from the reactor....If the steam dump system is not available (for example, no circulating water for the main condenser), the steam
can be dumped directly to the atmosphere through the atmospheric relief valves.

Page 4-22
The steam released should not have been radioactive, unless there's been damage to the reactor and leakage between the reactor cooling water and the feed water, maybe in the steam generator, but that's not supposed to happen. Reactor water/steam should stay in the facility:

...the reactor coolant system is located inside the containment building. Containments are designed to withstand the pressures and temperatures that would accompany a high energy fluid (primary coolant, steam, or feedwater) release into the building...

Page 4-26

Originally posted by Gwampo
why does the op refer to mother nature as a "he" ?

Because I have some """issues""" with my father.

reply to post by stillsearchin


Last news.

North Anna Damage Prompts Nuke Safety Questions

But the quake is giving the Nuclear Regulatory Commission new reasons, and new data, to reassess whether older US nuclear plants have enough safety margins to withstand expected earthquakes.

The only known damage from the earthquake was in an on-site substation. A failure there cut power to the main station when the earthquake hit at 1:51 p.m. yesterday. The two reactors automatically shut down, as designed.

Source

Some lessons are real hard to learn. Thankfully this time everything seems to be okay.

Originally posted by RUSSO
reply to post by crimvelvet

 

Hope you are right because:

North Anna Nuclear Reactors Only Designed to Withstand 5.9 - 6.1 Magnitude Earthquake

T An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale just occurred less than a hour ago. It's epicenter was in Mineral, VA—approximately 10 miles from two nuclear power reactors at the North Anna site. According to a representative of Dominion Power, the two reactors were designed to withstand a 5.9-6.1 quake. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) ranked the North Anna Reactors as being 7th in the nation in terms of earthquake risks.

Control rods are automatically inserted to halt a reactor, if it is impacted by an earthquake. However, the reactor core still has a large amount of decay heat that requires power to remove it if there is a loss of offsite power to prevent a melt down. It is reported that the North Anna reactors were shut down and is operating with back-up diesel generators. The failure to remove reactor decay heat is what led to severe accidents at the Fukusima nuclear site on Japan. It is not clear, at this time, what damage might have been sustained at the nuclear site.

The North Anna reactors are of the Westinghouse Pressurized Water design and went on line in 1979 and 1980 respectively. Since then the reactors have generated approximately 1,200 metric tons of nuclear spent fuel containing about 228,000 curies of highly radioactive materials—among the largest concentrations of radioactivity in the United States.

Nearly 40 percent of the radioactivity in the North Anna spent fuel pools is cesium-137—a long-lived radioisotope that gives off potentially dangerous penetrating radiation and also accumulates in food over a period of centuries. The North Anna Pools hold about 15-30 times more Cs-137 than was released by the Chernobyl accident in 1986. In 2003, IPS helped lead a study warning that drainage of a pool might cause a catastrophic radiation fire, which could render an area uninhabitable greater than that created by the Chernobyl accident.

The spent fuel pools at North Anna contain 4-5 times more than their original designs intended. As in Japan, all U.S. power nuclear power plant spent fuel pools do not have steel lined, concrete barriers that cover reactor vessels to prevent the escape of radioactivity. They are not required to have back-up generators to keep used fuel rods cool, if offsite power is lost. Even though they contain these very large amount of radioactivity, spent reactor fuel pools in the U.S. are mostly contained in ordinary industrial structures designed to protect them against the elements.

Source

I'm just thinking out loud here (with conspiracy hat ON) - but do you think it's possible that they lowered the magnitude of Yesterdays quake, because it's known that the Nuclear plants are only designed to withstand one from 5.9-6.1? I only ask because there was a fair bit of talk from those in the know on here who watch GEE, thinking that the quake looked like a 6.3 at least.