Breaking news coming across the news wires now.
The US Nuclear regulatory commission has reported that an “unusual event” has occurred after a Nuclear Power plant was hit by a tornado in Virginia causing it to lose power. It was the same loss of electricity that caused the Fukushima disaster leading to the meltdown of the reactors.
Updates will be posted here as they come in.
Update: 3:29 PM – The Guardian reports that Thousands of FEMA workers have been deployed to the area and two nuclear reactors are without power running on diesel generators as workers rush to restore power.
Update 1:46 PM EST – Still little news on this beside the news flash. Here is a short write-up from XE.com.
2011-04-18 14:57 (UTC)
WASHINGTON, April 18 (Reuters) – The U.S. nuclear safety regulator said on Monday it was monitoring a Virginia nuclear power plant in southeastern Virginia operated by Dominion Resources after a tornado cut its electrical power.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the plant’s diesel generators and safety systems operated as required, and that plant operators have partially restored off-site power to the plants.
Dominion Virginia Power said the two nuclear reactors at its Surry Power Station shut down automatically when a tornado touched down and cut off an electrical feed to the station. The U.S. south was hit by violent storms over the weekend.
No radiation was released during the storm and shutdown, the NRC and the company said.
Source: XE
Update: 3:29 PM – A few news sites are starting to pick up this story. The Guardian gives us the best update so far.
US tornadoes force shutdown of two nuclear reactors in Virginia
Series of storms that hit states from Oklahoma to North Carolina left at least 45 people dead and caused widespread damage
US tornadoes were most destructive in North Carolina, where Deborah Dulow, above, was left to survey the damage to her father’s house. Photograph: Jim R Bounds/APA US nuclear power company has disclosed that one of the tornadoes that hit the US at the weekend, killing at least 45 people and causing widespread damage, forced the shutdown of two of its reactors.
The series of tornadoes that began in Oklahoma late last week barrelled across the country, with North Carolina, where 22 people died, the worst-hit state.
The US nuclear safety regulator said on Mondayit was monitoring the Surry nuclear power plant in Virginia. Dominion Virginia Power said the two reactors shut down automatically when a tornado cut off power to the plant. A backup diesel generator kicked in to cool the fuel. The regulator said no radiation was released and staff were working to restore electricity to the plant.
[...] At a nearby farm, winds were lifting pigs and other animals into the sky. “It looked just like The Wizard of Oz,” McKoy said….. They took shelter in their laundry room. After they emerged, disorientated, they realised that the tornado had turned their mobile home around.
The national weather centre in Raleigh issued detailed descriptions of the tornadoes and their paths of destruction.
One of them, with winds greater than 100mph, destroyed trees, ripped off roofs and wrecked power lines. It hit Shaw University in Raleigh and then strengthened to 110mph. “Snapped trees crashed on to and through numerous homes all along the path. It is in this area where three fatalities were reported when two mobile homes were thrown 30 to 50ft [nine to 15 metres]. Nearly all of the mobile homes in the park sustained some type of damage,” the weather report said.
Thousands of workers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the national disaster organisation, are being deployed in North Carolina to assess the damage.
[...]
Source: The Guardian
No comments:
Post a Comment