RICHMOND — Federal nuclear regulators will discuss August earthquake’s impact on the North Anna Power Station with Dominion Virginia Power officials today.
The electric utility will provide more details to members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff on what happened at the power plant as a result of the Aug. 23 earthquake. The meeting will be held at the NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md.
The agenda includes an overview of the event, seismic results, recovery plan, results to date and the restart schedule, the NRC said.
According to the NRC, utility officials are expected to discuss the company’s latest analysis of ground motion at the North Anna site, which is located about 12 miles from the earthquake’s epicenter in Louisa County.
Analysis by the NRC and Dominion Virginia Power indicates the earthquake may have subjected North Anna to more shaking than specified in the plant’s design.
The company also is expected to describe the next steps in determining whether the plant meets NRC requirements to restart and make electricity again.
North Anna’s two 980-megawatt reactors shut down safely following the quake, the NRC said, with both units tripping offline as designed. The reactors remain out of service.
The Richmond-based company, Virginia largest electric utility, said that the plant incurred no significant damage.
But Dominion Virginia Power officials are working to discover exactly what caused the reactors to trip off line. Knowing precisely what prompted the shutdown is critical for validating the safety of the plant’s design.
The quake, for instance, caused 25 of the 115-ton steel casks storing highly radioactive used nuclear-fuel rods to shift as much as 4-½ inches out of position on their concrete storage pad.
When a special NRC team completes its inspection of the plant, the NRC will hold a meeting in the North Anna area to discuss preliminary results. A final report is expected by the middle of October.
Describing the earthquake as moderate, the U.S. Geological Survey said people felt the temblor throughout the eastern U.S., from central Georgia to central Maine and west to Detroit and Chicago, as well as in southeastern Canada from Montreal to Windsor.
Bacque reports for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
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