NRC says no time lmiit to reopen North Anna nuclear power station

Oct 3 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Peter Bacque Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.

Citizen groups worried about the safety of the North Anna nuclear power station called for strengthening the plant's resistence to earthquakes at a press conference outside the Louisa County plant today.

And Sara Tansey, with the group Not On Our Fault Line, demanded that plant owner Dominion Virginia Power "not pass on the price of their mistake to their ratepayers."

The Aug. 23 central Virginia earthquake tripped the two 980-megawatt reactors off line, an event unprecedented in the history of the U.S. nuclear power industry.

About 15 people gathered for the groups' press conference outside the North Anna Nuclear Information Center today, before a Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting to report on the earthquake's impact on the plant.

An NRC inspection team spent three weeks looking into the quake's effects on the Louisa County power reactors.

The inspection team presented its findings at the public meeting this afternoon at the North Anna Nuclear Information Center. About 150 people filled the information center auditorium for the NRC meeting.

NRC officials repeated that there is no time line for restarting the plant. The full regulatory commission will meet with Dominion officials Oct. 21 for a briefing on the plant's response to the earthquake.

This has been a breaking news update. For more on this story, see tomorrow's Richmond Times-Dispatch.