New Jersey's nuclear plants are bracing for Sandy today, federal regulators and officials for PSEG Nuclear and Exelon said. "We'll have to see where it goes, but it looks like it's going to have a pretty good hit on New Jersey," Sheehan said today.
Sheehan said that federal inspectors with satellite phones will be stationed at the plants through the storm.
"These plants have to be able to withstand all sorts of natural phenomena: earthquakes, severe flooding, tropical storms, lightning storms, tornadoes. They need to be able to deal with all of that," said Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "We like to say they're very robust structures, they can deal with a lot of punishment, but at the same time they have procedures in place to guide them through this."
Oyster Creek, located in Lacey Township in Ocean County, is shut down for a refueling outage, the plant's owner, Exelon said in a statement. The company has a storm response team working on protecting the plant and its workers.
“Safety is our number one priority. We are prepared to protect our plant, our workers and the public no matter what this storm throws at us,” said Oyster Creek Vice President Michael Massaro in a statement. “In its 42 years of operations, Oyster Creek has withstood its share of severe weather and our storm preparations this week will ensure our readiness.”
On the western shore of south Jersey, similar preparations were underway at PSEG Nuclear's two nuclear plants located close together in Lower Alloways Creek in Salem County, about 18 miles south of Wilmington, Del.
"We continue to monitor the weather conditions," said PSEG Nuclear spokesman Joe Delmar in a statement.
Delmar said the plants will shut down if wind speeds reach 74 miles per hour at the site for longer than 15 minutes, or if the river level rises from its typical level of 89 feet to 100 feet. The highest recorded level the river has reached is 97.5 feet.
Hurricanes are one of the biggest threats to New Jersey's nuclear plants, Delmar said after the meltdowns of Japanese reactors at Fukushima were caused by an earthquake and resulting tidal waves.
"The more likely occurrence for us here in South Jersey would be a hurricane and the potential for flooding," Delmar said at the time. "We're located right on the bay, and the river level is about 89 feet. At 99 and a half feet, we would take actions to shut the plants down. That has never happened."
Delmar said the plants are designed to weather an event that would bring the river level to 124.4 feet.
After the Fukushima incident, Delmar also said that PSEG's facilities include protections from extreme weather for diesel backup generators and a week's worth of fuel stored in tanks.
The plants are currently topping off their fuel tanks for generators, said the NRC's Sheehan, an important step because even once a plant is shut down, water must be circulated to keep nuclear fuel cool.
Sheehan also pointed to a track record of success for U.S. nuclear reactors in dealing with storms.
"Hurricane Andrew, if you go back to the 90's, hit Turkey Point in Florida head-on, and that was a much more powerful hurricane and the plant came through that," Sheehan said. "So (East Coast plants) will be positioned to deal with this."
