Rising waters could force nuclear plants to shut down

Sep 9 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Sean Adkins York Daily Record, Pa

The rising flood waters of the Susquehanna River could force the operators of the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station and Three Mile Island in Dauphin to shut down the nuclear powered plants.

On Thursday evening and into the overnight, the river near Peach Bottom was steady 109.25 feet above sea level, said Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

At 111 feet above sea level, the plant's procedures call for the power station to start shutting down, he said.

One more foot above sea level, the plant would need to declare an low-level emergency, Sheehan said.

A low-level emergency, or unusual event, refers to a process that has occurred within a plant that could potentially degrade the level of safety at the site. It is the lowest of the four emergency levels.

There would be no water rushing through the plant, it would just be taken offline, safely.

At Peach Bottom, officials have more control over the thresholds of the river since they can use the Conowingo Dam to help control the levels, he said.

Officials at the power station spent Thursday monitoring the river levels and the plant has continued to operate normally, said David Tillman, a spokesman for Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station.

"We have procedural guidelines in place and, if the river did rise above those procedure limits, we would need to safely shutdown the plant," he said. "But, we're not there yet."

The Susquehanna River is expected to rise a few more feet before cresting sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning.

Also on Thursday, the river near TMI remained at 288 feet above sea level, Sheehan said.

At 300 feet, the plant would declare a low-level emergency, he said.

The main concern would be the condition of the pumps that each plant uses to draw water from the river.

"Both plants are very close to the levels in which the equipment used to pump water into the plant to cool safety systems could be impacted," Sheehan said. "And, if that did occur, the plants would need to shutdown for precautionary purposes."

The issues now faced by either plant will not impact the public health and safety of area residents.

"The plants know to safely shutdown if they hit those river thresholds," Sheehan said.