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North Anna Nuclear Reactors Designed to Withstand 5.9 - 6.1 Magnitude Earthquake pogoblog.typepad.com
"The North Anna reactors are of the Westinghouse Pressurized Water design and went on line in 1979 and 1980 respectively. Since then the reactors have generated approximately 1,200 metric tons of nuclear spent fuel containing about 228,000 curies of highly radioactive materials—among the largest concentrations of radioactivity in the United States.

Nearly 40 percent of the radioactivity in the North Anna spent fuel pools is cesium-137—a long-lived radioisotope that gives off potentially dangerous penetrating radiation and also accumulates in food over a period of centuries. The North Anna Pools hold about 15-30 times more Cs-137 than was released by the Chernobyl accident in 1986. In 2003, IPS helped lead a study warning that drainage of a pool might cause a catastrophic radiation fire, which could render an area uninhabitable greater than that created by the Chernobyl accident.

The spent fuel pools at North Anna contain 4-5 times more than their original designs intended. As in Japan, all U.S. power nuclear power plant spent fuel pools do not have steel lined, concrete barriers that cover reactor vessels to prevent the escape of radioactivity. They are not required to have back-up generators to keep used fuel rods cool, if offsite power is lost. Even though they contain these very large amount of radioactivity, spent reactor fuel pools in the U.S. are mostly contained in ordinary industrial structures designed to protect them against the elements."

@RadioGuy So I wasn't seeing things!!!!

@joniver trying to re-find the photo. It was a photo gallery from AP or one of the big news agencies. It was a pic of the washington monument with the capitol in the background and a helicopter flying around the monument. If anyone spies it again please let me know. I accidentally closed the window of the news story.

@elainekirk that set at a different location. A US source had those pictures plus more and the Washington Monument images was with them..

@lillymunster oh blinks

i am puzzled why they vented north anna...

Hello @all - I'm 12,000 miles away from base so thanks for keeping events up to date

@Peter Melzer so the turbines are offline and the redundant steam vents out ?

But it's worth noting that the sources of cooling power are - 1. reactor operation (now offline), 2. offsite power grid (also offline) and 3. emergency generators (75% operational). It is sobering to see how precarious the whole system can be.