Nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen says that there are actually 26 nuclear plants in the path of the hurricane, and that the spent fuel pools in the plants don’t have backup pumps (summary via EneNews):
- You’ll hear in the next 2 days, “We’ve safely shutdown the plant”
- What Fukushima taught us is that doesn’t stop the decay heat
- You need the diesels to keep the reactors cool
- 26 plants in the East Coast are in the area where Sandy is likely to hit
- Fuel pools not cooled by diesels, no one wanted to buy them
- If recent refuel, hot fuel will throw off more and more moisture from pool
- Reactor buildings not meant to handle the high humidity
- Fuel pool liner not really designed to approach boiling water, may unzip if water gets too hot
- A lot of problems with allowing fuel pool to over
- Need water in around 2 days if hot fuel in pool
- The only fall-back if power is lost is to let fuel pools heat up
EneNews also reports that the hurricane is forecast to directly hit the Oyster Creek nuclear plant and that – while the plant is currently shut down for refueling – it still might very well have new, very hot fuel in the fuel pools:
Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station is located near New Jersey’s shoreline in an area forecast to take a direct hit from Hurricane Sandy: “The current ‘track center’ for the landfall path is central New Jersey pointing Sandy in a path that would hit Oyster Creek nuclear station.”
With Oyster Creek (point A) shut down for refueling starting last week, hot fuel may have been placed in the fuel pool quite recently.The unit at Oyster Creek is the same as Fukushima Daiichi No. 1: “Oyster Creek is one of the oldest US nuclear plants and is the same design as Fukushima unit 1.”-SimplyInfo
Remember, Fukushima reactor number 4 was shut down for maintenance when the Japanese earthquake hit. And yet the fuel pools at reactor 4 are in such precarious condition that they pose a giantthreat to humanity.
Hurricane Sandy is not very intense in terms of wind speed. But the storm is so large, that storm surges could be 11 feet high.
Obviously, the path of the hurricane could veer substantially, and may not hit Oyster Creek after all … weather forecasting is not an exact science. But Gundersen argues that nuclear plants in Pennsylvania and New Jersey are in the most danger given current projections.
The Salem and Hope Creek plants in New Jersey are also near the path of the hurricane, as are the following plants in Pennsylvania:
- Peach Bottom
- Limerick
- Three Mile Island
- Susquehanna
Another concern is the Millstone plant in Connecticut:
EneNews summarizes the situation in a post entitled “Officials in Connecticut warn of giant 16-foot storm surge, with 15-foot waves on top of that — State’s nuclear plant directly exposed on ocean“:
In a message sent to residents Sunday afternoon, [Norwalk, Connecticut] Mayor Richard A. Moccia warned of a 16-foot storm surge brought to land by Hurricane Sandy. [...] “I have declared a state of emergency in the City,” he said. “Coastal flooding from this event will peak at midnight on Monday night and will be worse than any flooding Norwalk has experienced in recent history. If you have ever experienced flooding before it is likely you will be flooded in this storm.” Moccia said that the storm will be equal to a Category 4 hurricane and will produce 16 foot storm surges.“The mood during the meeting was tense as federal officials estimated a 13-foot storm surge for Westport [Connecticut] -– 3 or 4 feet higher that the inundation from Storm Irene last year,” a news release said. “This is an unprecedented storm,” said [First Selectman Gordon Joseloff], following his team’s briefing with federal and state disaster preparedness officials. “This will be a storm of long duration, high winds and record-setting flooding. Take Storm Irene from last year and double it.” he said. [...] The town is bracing for at least three waves of flooding, beginning with the high tide at midnight Sunday, the announcement said. [... An] estimated 15-foot wind-driven waves [...] are expected on top of the storm surge.According to the Weather Channel’s latest map, a 6 to 11 foot water level rise is forecast for the Connecticut coastline. This is the highest increase of any area in the US. The state’s only nuclear power plant is located directly on the ocean, see marker ‘A’ below:
In July, AP reported:Millstone Power Station, Connecticut’s sole nuclear plant, is focusing on how best to guard against flooding and earthquakes to comply with tougher federal standards following the nuclear plant meltdown in Japan last year, the new chief of the power station said in an interview.Millstone is assessing its ability to withstand flooding and “seismic events,” Stephen E. Scace, who took over as site vice president at Millstone in January, told The Associated Press on Thursday. He expects upgrades and installation of new equipment in the next three to four years.
Meteorologists are warning that Hurricane Sandy could potentially be the worst storm to hit the east coast of the United States in 100 years. Do you remember “the perfect storm” back in 1991?That storm was so bad that Hollywood made a blockbuster movie starring George Clooney about it.Well, this storm is going to be much worse. When I first heard about Hurricane Sandy, I didn’t make that much of it.I figured that the east coast would get some wind and some rain and that they would whine about it a bit but that everything would be just fine. But then I started looking into this storm a bit more.It turns out that this storm is even larger than Hurricane Katrina was.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has categorized the destructive potential of this storm to be 5.8 on a scale that goes from 0 to 6.So don’t be fooled when you hear that this is only a “category 1 storm” or that the maximum winds will only be around 80 MPH.It is the unprecedented size of this storm and the mind boggling storm surges that it is producing that truly make it dangerous. It is being reported that Hurricane Sandy is more than 1,000 miles across from one end to the other.Meteorologists have never seen anything quite like this before, and we are most definitely in unprecedented territory. One meteorologist is already projecting that this megastorm could cause 100 billion dollars in damage, but the true amount of devastation will likely not be fully known for weeks.If you live in the northeast part of the United States, you definitely want to buckle up because you are about to get absolutely hammered.The following are 17 things that you should know about Hurricane Sandy…#1 Hurricane Sandy has been dubbed “the Frankenstorm” and many believe that this could be the worst storm to hit the east coast in 100 years.#2 This is an absolutely massive megastorm. It is being reported that tropical storm-force winds can be felt 520 miles away from the center of the storm.#3 It is being reported that the sheer size of this storm is absolutely unprecedented…Since records of storm size began in 1988, no tropical storm or hurricane has been larger, reports meteorologist Jeff Masters of the Weather Underground.#4 Hurricane Sandy has already forced the cancellation of over 5,000 flights.#5 Mayor Bloomberg has announced a mandatory evacuation for all New York City residents that are living in “Zone A”.#6 It is being projected that the storm surge from Hurricane Sandy could be up to 15 feet above sea level in some areas of New York City.#8 Subway service in New York City is being shut down at 7 PM on Sunday evening. There is a very real possibility that the New York City subway system could be severely flooded by this storm. That could be quite crippling, because about 4.3 million people ride the subway in New York every single day.#10 Schools in Boston will be shut down on Monday as well.#11 The trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange will be closed on Monday.#13 Some parts of Kentucky, West Virginia and North Carolina could get up to 2 feet of snow.#14 It is being estimated that 10 million people living along the east coast could lose power thanks to Hurricane Sandy.#15 A state of emergency has already been declared in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.#17 Meteorologist Mike Smith of AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions is projecting that Hurricane Sandy could potentially cause a total of 100 billion dollars in damage to the U.S. economy. That would make it a far more costly disaster than Hurricane Katrina.Many meteorologists are calling this storm a “worst case scenario”. If you live along the east coast, please take the warnings that you are getting from public officials very seriously. According to NPR, conditions are absolutely perfect for this slow moving giant storm, and it is going to take quite a few days for it to exit the region…In this case, seas will be amped up by giant waves and full-moon-powered high tides. That will combine with drenching rains, triggering inland flooding as the hurricane merges with a winter storm system that will worsen it and hold it in place for days.Louis Uccellini, environmental prediction chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Associated Press that given Sandy’s due east-to-west track into New Jersey, that puts the worst of the storm surge just north in New York City, Long Island and northern New Jersey.“Yes, this is the worst case scenario,” he said.Please do not underestimate this storm. This is unlike anything that any of us have ever seen before.If you live in a part of the country that is being affected by this storm, please feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you are seeing in your area. It is going to be a crazy couple of days.
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