Earthquake causes North Anna reactors to shut down automatically

• 13 years ago (2011-08-24)
• David Flin

North America 1021 Nuclear 659

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A 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck Virginia, USA, causing minimal damage. Dominion Virginia Power’s two North Anna nuclear reactors shut down automatically as a result of the earthquake.

Jim Norvelle, spokesman for Dominion Virginia Power, said: “There was a loss of power from the switchyard to the power station. This led to an automatic shutdown of the turbine generator, which automatically caused the reactor to shut down.”

Though the North Anna plant lost off-site electric power, Norvelle said the plant’s four backup diesel generators started as designed and continued to run the reactor’s cooling systems. The company said that after the plant’s four emergency generators started, plant operators discovered that one of the engines had a coolant leak and shut that generator down. The operators then started the plant’s fifth generator, used as a backup. The company said the plant is required to have only three generators available for emergency power.

Dominion Virginia Power has said that it has not yet determined what caused the interruption of power to the plant, which in turn caused the shutdown. The company said that there was no release of radioactive material.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that the plant’s safety systems operated normally.