Oldest US Nuclear Plant :)

It should be blindingly obviousthat sea side plants must be proof against any form of tsunami howeverunlikely.  It is not particularly difficulteven. 

Everything in Japan wouldhave been easily solved by the simple expedient of putting back up generators agood ten stories up in a steel frame building. Is that so hard or even particularly expensive?  At worst, the lower floors would provideoffice space and the back up equipment might even have been used from time totime.

And yes it is possible to havetsunamis on the East coast however unlikely. One wiped out the European Bronze Age in 1159 BC.

Perhaps it is also time to movespent fuel rods to a central depository in Arizona to get them separated from a realproblem with the reactor.  We have nowlearned that one makes the other an immediate issue that does not go away.

None of this is expensive.  How were the decisions made?

Oldest USnuclear reactor: a 'disaster' in waiting?

March 24, 2011 byKarin Zeitvogel

An aerial view of the Oyster Creek Generating Station, a nuclear powerplant in Forked River, New Jersey on March 22. A sleepy New Jerseytown has popped onto people's radar screens because it has the oldest runningnuclear power plant in the United States -- and, some say, the most dangerous.

A sleepy New Jersey town has popped onto people's radar screens becauseit has the oldest running nuclear power plant in the United States -- and, somesay, the most dangerous.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-oldest-nuclear-reactor-disaster.html

Named for a Revolutionary War general, Lacey is the kind of Americantown that few from outside the seaside settlement knew much about before theearthquake and tsunami in Japan triggereda nuclear crisis.

Down the road from the 1950s-style diner and across from the bridgethat locals use as a fishing pier stands the Oyster Creek nuclear plant.

It uses a GE Mark I Boiling Water reactor identical to those that lostpower at Japan's Fukushima plant in the March 11 earthquake and then was struckby a tsunami that knocked out its backup generators, causing reactor coolingfunctions to fail.

US anti-nuclear activists and many residents of Lacey and surrounding Jersey shore townships worry that a similar nucleardisaster could happen at Oyster Creek, and it wouldn't need an earthquake or tsunami to trigger it.

Oyster Creek has been dogged by problems including a corroding liner inthe carbon steel containment unit; leaks that allow radioactive tritium to seepinto drinking water; and huge volumes of stocked spent fuel rods.

"We have 40 years of radiation on site -- two-and-a-half to threetimes more than in Japan," anti-nuclear activist Jeff Brown told AFP.

"You also have that tremendously stupid design to start with wherethe spent fuel rods are sitting on top of the reactor," he said, raising afear among residents that the reactor could be an easy target for a terroristattack.

"At the very least, we need a no-fly zone over Oyster Creek. Wehave a no-fly zone over Disney World but not here," said Peggi Sturmfels,a program organizer at the New JerseyEnvironmental Federation.

Oyster Creek is owned and operated by Exelon Corporation, which employs700 people at the plant. The company disputes the charges by activists,insisting the reactor is safe.

***

A security sign on a fence at the Oyster Creek Generating Station, anuclear power plant in Forked River, New Jersey on March 22. A sleepyNew Jersey town has popped onto people's radar screens because it has theoldest running nuclear power plant in the United States -- and, some say, themost dangerous.

"Nuclear power stations in general are the most hardened andwell-protected industrial facilities in existence. Oyster Creek is noexception," Exelon spokesman Craig Nesbitt told AFP. 

Half a million people live within what would be the evacuation zone ifOyster Creek were ever to have a radiation accident. In the summer, thepopulation swells with beach-goers heading to the Jerseyshore.

The town is 85 miles (137 kilometers) south of New York and 55 miles (88 kilometers) east of Philadelphia.

New Jersey is not in a seismically active zone butmeteorologists say the coastal state is long overdue for a Category Fivehurricane.

"One good storm surge, and Oyster Creek's backup generators areswamped. It's Japanall over again," Sturmfels said.

Nesbitt rejects such assessments, saying the plant is five miles (eightkilometers) off the Atlantic coast, protected by barrier islands, and 23 feet(seven meters) above sea level, far higher than the largest recorded storm tideof seven feet, in 1962.

He also said Oyster Creek "is constantly evaluated andimproved," and that more than $1 billion has been spent on plant upgradessince operations began in 1969.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission extended Oyster Creek's license foranother 20 years in 2009.

The NRC not only gives out nuclear licenses but is the industry safetywatchdog. That's a conflict of interest, say critics who liken the situation tothe regulation of the oil industry prior to last year's devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Under pressure from state officials, Oyster Creek's license was rolledback to 10 years, and the plant is now due to close for good in 2019.

Even that's too late, say some residents.

"I don't like it. They should close it sooner," retireeBarbara Murrofsky told AFP as she shopped at a local hardware store.

"What's happening in Japan has made us more aware of theproblems we have in our own backyard," she said. "There are so manypeople who live near here that an accident would be a major disaster. Theyshould shut it down now."

***

A sign at the entrance to the Oyster Creek Generating Station, anuclear power plant in Forked River, New Jersey, on March 19. A sleepyNew Jersey town has popped onto people's radar screens because it has theoldest running nuclear power plant in the United States -- and, some say, themost dangerous.

But another local, Rick Gifford, looked philosophically at OysterCreek.

"It's been running for 40 years with no problem, there's no reasonit should start having problems now," he said.

Greg Auriemma, a lawyer for the Sierra Club environmental group, saidGifford's stance was not unusual in Lacey.

"There's a sense of complacency because while the plant has had alot of negative publicity, no major disaster has occurred. So people look at itand say, 'It's been running for 40 years, what's the big deal?'"

But, Auriemma said, as Japan showed, one tragic event can dramaticallychange the situation. "There's a potential disaster that could happenright here in our backyard," he told AFP.

Last week, President Barack Obama ordered a "comprehensivereview" of US nuclearsafety and vowed to learn lessons from Japan's atomic accident.

The NRC on Wednesday launched its review of the nation's 24 US reactors,saying a full report and recommendations will be published in six months.

A federal court hearing a case brought in 2009 by environmental groupsagainst the NRC on Monday asked the nuclear watchdog to advise if Japan'sunfolding crisis impacted "the propriety" of renewing Oyster Creek'slicense.

On the same day, the NRC extended for 20 years the license of anotherMark 1 reactor, in the state of Vermont.

The VermontYankee reactor has had tritium leaks, a cooling tower collapse and even a firein the plant's transformer.