Nuclear plant hit by US twisters, The Sun UK

Hah, The Sun UK has a way with headlines, headlines that reach out and grab you by the lapels. This story, though, got very little attention in the US amidst last weekend’s tornado tragedies and mayhem in the south. It’s a tender time in the nuclear industry, maybe sensitive to news about two nuclear plant units getting knocked out by a storm and relying on back-up diesel generators for six hours. Nothing approaching The Sun’s grabber headline appeared here in the US and for that matter it was mostly left below radar except for local outlets.  

Coincidentally, in early April the NRC held a public meeting to address local safety concerns about the Surry and nearby North Anna plants. The Virginia Pilot reported that in the post Fukashima environment, 42 people showed up at the yearly meeting that normally draws two or three.

“The good news is that neither North Anna nor Surry are likely to experience either an earthquake or a tsunami”. said Gerald McCoy of the NRC.

Tornadoes weren’t mentioned so maybe they dodged a bullet and publicity.  

Two units of Virginia Dominion Power’s 39 year old Surry nuclear power station (the plant recently had its license extended through 2012) were knocked out of service this past Saturday by tornado storm fronts that caused considerable damage to the switchyard and a low level radioactive material release. This was reportedly below federally approved limits and posed no threat to station workers or the public according to the NRC.

Nuclear regulators said the plant's diesel generators and safety systems operated as required. Plant operators partially restored off-site power to both reactors within six hours of the storm, the Dominion spokesman said  

Units 1 and 2 were operating at 100 and 98 percent power respectively by early Friday, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  

Unit 2's refueling work has begun and is expected to last about a month, according to Reuters data.     It last shut for refueling from about Nov. 1 to Dec. 1,   2009, and is on an 18-month cycle.

The Surry Unit #2 holds a sad place in commercial nuclear history – On December 9, 1986, a steam explosion in the non-nuclear part of Unit 2 killed 4 workers.This was one of the worst accident in terms of human cost of any in the US commercial nuclear industry. *Willow Island cooling tower scaffold collapse killed 51 during construction