Published: August 23rd, 2011 at 5:47 pm ET
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2 nuclear reactors taken offline after Va. quake, AP, August 23, 2011:
Federal officials say two nuclear reactors at the North Anna Power Station in Louisa County, Va., were automatically taken off line by safety systems around the time of the earthquake.
The Dominion-operated power plant is being run off three emergency diesel generators, which are supplying power for critical safety equipment. The NRC and Dominion are sending people to inspect the plant.
A fourth diesel generator failed, but it wasn’t considered an emergency because the other generators are working, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. [...]
h/t Will Smith
Published: August 23rd, 2011 at 5:47 pm ET
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sending...
It may be time to get the helicopters ready to make a token water drop like they did in Fuku.
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Don’t worry, hurricane Irene is on the way to drop some water there.
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I still say:
EVACUATE JAPAN TODAY!!
Posted on new thread here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/23/north-anna-power-station-taken-off-line_n_934320.html
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Yes, and the nuclear representive stood beside Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell at the live video conference long after it was known the 4th generator had failed and he declared flat out that ALL generators were working properly!
You know…you shouldn’t lie when people have computers and know how to use them! You might have got away with it 15 years ago…but not now.
I saw you on live Internet video and I know what you did!
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Posted your very INSITEFUL comment sickputer. I missed that clip. Amazing how they can stand there a lie like they do.
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Yea, Sickputer!
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@Sickputer
And another thing vanished very shortly after the first reports were made by AP! A spokesman said “no unusual radiation was released.” I saw this remark in more than one account, but when I went back, it had been deleted. ABC news reported that 12 nuclear power plants had an “unusual event today.”
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Does anyone know whether the generator that failed was a redundancy?
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>Does anyone know whether the generator that failed was a redundancy?
There is never enough redundancy when the consequence is a melt-down…
Reactors commonly have 4 to 8 generators depending on the size. These are huge traincar sized generators burning through thousands of gallons of diesel fuel a day.
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@Sickputer
I believe they said there are TWO reactors on the site and one more proposed. They also said there are four generators.
If both reactors were shut down manually (or automatically shut down, take your choice of which statement to believe) I suppose this would mean that one generator is operating one nuclear power plant?
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Just for your info: When the plants go to battery backup, it is bad, I do not know what the procedures are when a plant loses all generators, I would hope that they will shut down the plant. Why, is that batteries have two states to function properly, one of course is to give power for expected time frame allowing time to shut down, the other is how fast do they recharge to 80% of the running voltage as most equipment can run OK on this, it may take 12 hours (For nuclear plants I would hope 90% or higher, depending on the lowest voltage requirements). In most cases if you want 4 hours backup you design for twice the time, in this case 8 hours. Depending on the type of batteries and charging circuit the recharge time will vary. You can see that you may need time after the power failure to recharge the batteries so that they will come on line when required. I often wonder why some plants only have a 4 hour backup, they must have a short recharge time that would be better than a longer recharge time but that cost is greater so I have a hard time believing it.
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And I wonder if the generator was made by General Electric
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Stone & Webster…according to Wiki
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Just saw Brian Williams on NBC News and his buddy on the scene in Virginia proudly pronounced 3 generators were working properly! No mention of the dud 4th generator.
Well, what do you expect from NBC since its owner built the plant?
http://www.nbc.com/nbc/header/Corporate_Info.shtml
[...] An industry pioneer for more than 75 years, the National Broadcasting Company was founded in 1926 by General Electric, RCA, and Westinghouse. RCA became the sole owner of NBC in 1932.
In 1986, RCA was purchased by General Electric, which today wholly owns and operates NBC. [...]
The North Anna plant that is in Virginia is owned by Dominion Energy. The two units at the plant were built by Westinghouse and went online in 1978 and 1980 and have a license through 2023.
Westinghouse at one time owned CBS and Westinghouse was bought by Toshiba in 2006.
A third unit for Santa Anna has been aggressively pursued by the owners and a construction deal tentatively set with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
But.. “On Oct 29, 2010 Dominion president Tom Farrell told investors that Dominion had decided to slow its development of the proposed third reactor and wait until the combined construction permit-operating license (COL) was approved by the NRC before deciding to complete the project. This approval is expected in early 2013.”
credit to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Anna_Nuclear_Generating_Station
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They best shut them down. All of them, or prepare to pay the consequences later. Global EQs are on the rise, not the decline. Reactors are our biggest threat.
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Our NRC backup power requirement is only 4 hours in the USA. In Japan it was 8 hours.
However, as we know, even 8 hours was not enough. 24 hours would not have been enough.
The NRC, the EPA and the entire Nuclear Industry are the ones who should be put on trial for crimes against humanity and the planet! I would subscribe to Court TV just to see that one.
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If Irene frustrates them getting fuel to this plant they will be forced to use the batteries.
Irene could also take out some power lines making it difficult to get the juice back on line.
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You say this is entirely coincidence?
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Why are the nuclear plants on backup generators? What happened to the normal power grid?
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At the Virginia news conference the nuke guy said transformers. Large banks of transformers can take 4 to 12 hours to replace under the best of conditions…with it now dark it will go a little slower. If the transmission lines are OK then they should be back on by midnight or dawn at the latest. Just guessing, but I used to do that kind of work for HL&P so I know something about transformers and high voltage lines.
Now if towers are down then it could be days. Ice in wintertime is a huge threat to high voltage transmission lines as the weight of heavy ice-laden lines can collapse long stretches and pull down steel towers also.
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http://energy.aol.com/2011/08/23/north-anna-nuke-plant-trips-offline-in-earthquake/
Excerpted: [...] The two-reactor North Anna nuclear power plant in Virginia automatically shut down following a 5.8 magnitude earthquake this afternoon.
The two reactors both automatically shut down safely, Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesperson Elizabeth Stuckle confirmed. North Anna is the closest plant to the epicenter of the earthquake.
Four diesel generators automatically came on to power the plant and are working well, Stuckle said. [...]
SP: Another liar about the diesels…See…what they don’t want you to know (I am guessing, may be wrong) is that two backup diesel generators service each of the two nuclear reactor units.
So when one diesel is down…then one of the reactors is serviced by only one generator…no backup if it fails unless they have some sort of electrical routing from the other two (which I doubt).
If the singlet fails….then batteries kick in for only a few hours. I bet they are hoping to either get the blown main line transformers replaced in time to avoid that kind of sticky wicket and have to call on the Pentagon to airlift ir truck in a new diesel.
If we had Arnie posting here he could tell us if my supposition has any merit. *;-)
Hint, hint…c’mon Arnie you can use a penname and say you are a former nuclear plant worker.
(Just teasing…you are probably smart to lay low…they might decide you need a long walk on a short pier.)
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This is way beyond ridiculous… in a matter as serious as nuclear plant safety, why are backup generators failing?! I am so SICK of hearing about back up safety equipment failing! WTF?
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