Gundersen: 26 nuclear plants in area where Hurricane Sandy likely to hit — If power lost, only plan is to let spent fuel pools heat up… no generators to pump in water (AUDIO)

Published: October 28th, 2012 at 9:06 pm ET
By ENENews

Transcript Summary of an excerpt from the October 28, 2012 podcast by Fairewinds Energy Education:

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

Full program here

Published: October 28th, 2012 at 9:06 pm ET
By ENENews

20 comments to Gundersen: 26 nuclear plants in area where Hurricane Sandy likely to hit — If power lost, only plan is to let spent fuel pools heat up… no generators to pump in water (AUDIO)

AGreenRoad

October 28, 2012 at 9:21 pm Log in to Reply

Aging Reactors, Lies, Deceptions, Profits And Earthquakes; via A Green Road http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/03/aging-reactors-lies-deceptions-profits.html

The Diablo You Don't Know; via A Green Road
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/04/diablo-you-dont-know.html

Report Comment
16Penny

October 28, 2012 at 9:34 pm Log in to Reply

Gulp!

Report Comment
- GlowInTheDark
  
  October 29, 2012 at 1:00 pm Log in to Reply
  
  26 NPP failure all at the same time is just unimaginable…to top Fukushima….. Run everyone QUICK!
  
  Report Comment
tarpus

October 28, 2012 at 9:42 pm Log in to Reply

Unbelievable insanity.

Report Comment
- HoTaters
  
  October 29, 2012 at 1:28 am Log in to Reply
  
  Yup.
  
  Report Comment
TheBigPicture

October 28, 2012 at 9:43 pm Log in to Reply

Basically what this all means is "keep your fingers crossed".

Report Comment
jec

October 28, 2012 at 9:50 pm Log in to Reply

Might better cross your legs…..no back up generators? I wonder if that is why all the gensets were purchased by government in Florida a week or so ago? I hope….what in the world are the fed agents with phones going to do if the power goes out..without generator backup?

Report Comment
amberlight

October 28, 2012 at 9:52 pm Log in to Reply

Power outages from hurricanes and ice storms are standard fare in the northeast. How have they handled extended loss of power at these nuclear facilities in the past? Or perhaps the question should be: How much radiation spews from these aging hulks every time the power goes down?

Report Comment
- VicFromOregon
  
  October 29, 2012 at 7:16 am Log in to Reply
  
  They are given their own trunk lines, which usually survive storms well and have backup diesel generators. It is the flooding that is the concern because of the location of the generator pumps on those units the same as Fukushima, not the winds. If the pumps flood, it doesn't matter how much electricity they have, the cooling pumps won't work.
  
  Report Comment
  - GlowInTheDark
    
    October 29, 2012 at 1:03 pm Log in to Reply
    
    "the location of the generator pumps on those units the same as Fukushima"
    
    Oh dear…
    
    Report Comment
jec

October 28, 2012 at 9:55 pm Log in to Reply

Not sure how reliable the site info is but interesting reading..
http://theintelhub.com/2012/10/28/nrc-protocol-16-us-nuclear-reactors-and-utility-stations-risk-shutdown-from-storm/

Report Comment
- PavewayIII
  
  October 28, 2012 at 10:24 pm Log in to Reply
  
  No problems – the NRC operations center is now open 24×7. They even have a cheesy graphic boasting this fact. http://www.nrc.gov/#&panel1-1
  
  No matter what you click on for the 24×7 graphic, you'll be taken to the same generic Emergency Preparedness and Response page. This is the first sentence:
  
  "…Good planning leads to good response…"
  
  http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/emerg-preparedness.html
  
  I think Japan's former nuke regulator NISA's Office of Preparedness use to say something like that too.
  
  Gee… that didn't work out so well, did it?
  
  Report Comment
- HoTaters
  
  October 29, 2012 at 1:25 am Log in to Reply
  
  I think the author read the reports from the major newswires and just re-wrote their information. Similar report came out on CNN yesterday.
  
  Report Comment
  - HoTaters
    
    October 29, 2012 at 1:26 am Log in to Reply
    
    That was in response to the post from JEC, re: IntelHub report.
    
    Report Comment
many moons

October 28, 2012 at 9:56 pm Log in to Reply

"no body wanted to buy the larger sized diesel engine so they penciled out the problem"

Incredible….these people do not have the brains God gave goat…and they have the power to make decisions about our lives.

Report Comment
- Jebus
  
  October 28, 2012 at 10:09 pm Log in to Reply
  
  MM,
  Thats really being hard on the goat. It's the all knowing "psuedo scientists" that are causing the fish heads to make these decisions…
  
  What will the "psuedo scientists" think of next? Maybe…
  
  http://www.theonion.com/video/genetic-scientists-develop-sheep-with-brain-of-a-g,14239/
  
  Go ahead, call me a slider…
  
  Report Comment
Chelsea

October 28, 2012 at 10:19 pm Log in to Reply

Well, I know the one I'm downwind from has backup. Its switchyard was hit by a tornado years back and it was on backup for two days. But, I don't know about the rest of them. *sigh* Unreal.

Report Comment
- jec
  
  October 28, 2012 at 10:26 pm Log in to Reply
  
  Per WIKI -the SFP have cooling systems. If they fail, the operators have been trained to use a "backup" system. This from an NRC report. HUM..and then this..http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2060880,00.html
  
  Report Comment
  - Jebus
    
    October 28, 2012 at 11:04 pm Log in to Reply
    
    wow, from that article posted…
    
    Storage sites have fail-safes in the event that power is lost, but they're not foolproof. "If the emergency diesel generators are lost — which is the backup power source — the cooling systems for the spent-fuel pools don't have battery capacity," says Lochbaum. "So you have to get either the diesels back or the electrical grid back in order to restore cooling." Rod McCullum, the director of used-fuels programs at the Nuclear Energy Institute, says backup systems in Japan and the U.S. "are highly similar."
    
    Report Comment
arclight

October 28, 2012 at 10:40 pm Log in to Reply

lol! gunderson stirring it up again? and just an article ago he was the man of stability

i see your panic and raise yer this,,

Nuclear industry prepared for hurricane, is confident of safety

http://nuclear-news.net/2012/10/29/nuclear-industry-prepared-for-hurricane-is-confident-of-safety/

ny tmes article.. but dont worry entwhistle aint there yet!!
so it might be true!!??

keep it up gundieman!!!

Report Comment