Scientists identify nuclear plants that face the greatest earthquake risks

US nuclear power reactors facing the highest risk of earthquake meltdown are not in earthquake-prone California, but states including South Carolina and Missouri, an analysis of government data released on Thursday said.

The chances of an earthquake leading to landslides are slim, but the consequences will be dire. A tsunami from the 2011 earthquake caused the collapse of three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, causing radiation emissions and mass evacuations.

The U.S. reactor facing the highest risk is Duke Energy Corp’s HB Robinson near Hartsville, South Carolina, according to an analysis by the Federation of Concerned Scientists.

Robinson faces one in 7,700 chances annually that an earthquake will cause a collapse, the analysis says, based on estimates by Duke submitted to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). This risk is five times higher than each of PG&E Corp’s Diablo Canyon reactors, the only two remaining in California. These reactors are slated to close in 2024 and 2025.

Source: “Earthquakes and the HB Robinson Plant: A Case Study of the NRC’s Failure to Learn from the Fukushima Accident” by Union of Concerned Scientists.

According to the analysis, the three reactors at the Duke plant named Oconee in Seneca, South Carolina face one in 17,500 chance of melting annually.

All Duke nuclear plants are in compliance with NRC requirements for earthquakes, and the company has strengthened structures, systems and components, company spokeswoman Marie Katherine Green said.

The Okuni Nuclear Power Plant is located on the shores of Lake Kiwi in South Carolina. Photo: Duke Energy

The analysis said Ameren Corp’s Calaway reactor in Fulton, Missouri, faces a 1 in 13,800 chance of collapse annually. Barry Cox, Vice President of the Site at Callaway, said the plant is investing millions of dollars in protecting against earthquakes and other natural disasters.

Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear energy safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, who wrote the analysis, said the Norwegian Refugee Council should not approve renewal of Duke’s licenses unless the company does more to protect against risks.

“He is convinced that Duke has made” binding commitments “to install permanent repairs at Robinson and” seismic risk insights may be useful in future license renewal reviews, “said Scott Purnell, a spokesman for the Norwegian Refugee Council.

(Prepared by Timothy Gardner, Editing by Jonathan Otis)

Top photo: Robinson Nuclear Plant, South Carolina, photo: Duke Energy

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