#Nuclear reactor meltdown body update

The ten US nuclear reactor sites with the highest likelihoods of meltdown triggered by an earthquake are listed in Table 1, in order of decreasing risk. The NRC required this group of plants to performed detailed analyses called вЂњseismic probabilistic risk assessments.вЂќ Robinson was one of seventeen nuclear plants that the NRC identified as having the largest differences between the severity of the seismic hazards revealed by the new studies and the original hazards that were assumed when the plants were designed and licensed. Of particular concern is the possible failure of the adjacent Robinson Dam, which was built to create Lake Robinson, the major source of cooling water for the plantвЂ™s radioactive fuel and critical safety equipment such as emergency diesel generators. But this danger is compounded at Robinson-partly because of poor plant design and partly because of a phenomenon known as liquefaction: the potential for ground shaking to cause the underlying soil to lose strength and its ability to support buildings and other structures.

South Carolina, where the city of Charleston suffered a devastating earthquake in 1886, is one of sixteen states with the highest seismic risk, according to the United States Geological Survey. DukeвЂ™s risk assessment found that, on average, there is a one in 7,700 chance per year that an earthquake could cause a meltdown at Robinson-five times higher than the average estimated risk for each of Diablo CanyonвЂ™s two reactors. There is only one nuclear reactor at the site: Unit 1 is a shut-down coal-fired plant. Robinson Unit 2 reactor near Hartsville, South Carolina, owned by Duke Energy Progress (вЂњDukeвЂќ). The вЂњwinnerвЂќ (or more accurately, вЂњloserвЂќ) is apparently-wait for it-the H.B. Which nuclear plant in the United States has the reactor (or reactors) most susceptible to melting down after an earthquake? If you guessed the answer is the two-unit Diablo Canyon, the only nuclear power plant currently operating in seismically challenged California, you would be wrong. After nearly a decade, the results are in.

#Nuclear reactor meltdown body update

In response to the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi triple-meltdown accident in Japan, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) ordered nuclear reactor owners to conduct studies to revise and update the seismic hazard profiles at their sites.