Columbia Generating Station Nuclear Reactor’s Earthquake
Risks are Underestimated
Physicians Call for Shutdown
By Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility
November 2, 2013
A
local geologist examining existing knowledge of the seismic
activity on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and the
Mid-Columbia basin has concluded that the earthquake
standards set for the Northwest’s only commercial nuclear
power plant are at least 300% lower than should be
required. Oregon and Washington Physicians for Social
Responsibility, which commissioned the study, has called for
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to shut down the
nuclear plant until it can meet adequate earthquake
standards.
The
Columbia Generating Station nuclear power plant, previously
known as the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS)
plant #2 (WNP-2), is a GE Boiling Water Reactor with a Mark
II containment that began operation in 1984 on the Hanford
Nuclear Reservation along the Columbia River, north of
Richland, Washington. The plant produces around 4% of the
Pacific Northwest’s electricity on an average annual basis.
Kennewick, WA-based consulting engineering geologist, Terry
L. Tolan, LEG, produced two reports released yesterday by
the Oregon and Washington chapters of Physicians for Social
Responsibility. “No seismic structural upgrades have been
made at the Columbia Generating Station despite all of the
geologic evidence that has been assembled over the past
thirty years which has dramatically increased the seismic
risk at this site,” Tolan concluded.
Tolan’s reports and attachments, along with a letter from
Oregon and Washington PSR chapter Presidents John Pearson,
MD, and Steve Gilbert, PhD, DABT, were sent to Nuclear
Regulatory Commission Chairwoman Allison Macfarlane
yesterday, asking for her intervention and calling on the
NRC to “put the safety of the public in the Pacific
Northwest above the utility’s interests to continue
operating” and “shut down the CGS nuclear power plant
immediately until it can be shown that it meets adequate
earthquake standards.”
“Given the design similarities to the Japanese GE BWR
reactors, we are concerned that if an earthquake cracked the
elevated spent-fuel pool, cooling water would drain and we
could have a Fukushima-like scenario on our hands,” said
Seattle toxicologist Steven Gilbert, president of PSR’s
Washington chapter.
Portland pediatrician John Pearson, president of Oregon’s
PSR chapter, echoed that sentiment: “we have seen what a
‘station black-out/loss of coolant’ accident can do to this
type of a nuclear reactor. We are very concerned that a
major earthquake could lead to a similar accident on the
Columbia River.”
Geologist Tolan’s first report outlines the new seismic
information, based upon thirty years of additional research
in the region, that was not included in the initial
assessment of the nuclear power plant, including:
1. the erroneous placement of the largest historic
earthquake in relation to the nuclear plant;
2. a doubling of the number of major fault lines
discovered in the region;
3. ground motion studies for the US Department of
Energy’s Waste Treatment Plant, ten miles away, found
potential for more than three times as much vibratory ground
motion as had been estimated for the CGS nuclear plant;
4. faults at different layers in the substrata are now
believed to be “coupled,” increasing the potential for
larger earthquakes;
5. faults are now known to be much longer than previously
known – increasing the potential for more powerful
earthquakes;
6. faults are now known to be “younger,” indicating more
recent quakes;
7. the distance of the closest active fault to the CGS
nuclear plant is now known to be 2.3 miles, not the more
than five miles away as originally believed;
8. faulting extends into the basement rock below basalt
layers, greatly increasing the potential for large quakes;
and,
9. surface faulting on Umtanum Ridge, which extends
within 6.2 miles of the nuclear plant, indicates more recent
activity than previously known, increasing the likelihood of
earthquakes.
Tolan’s second report dissects a 2010 analysis prepared by
CGS nuclear plant operator Energy Northwest for the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission regarding new seismic knowledge in the
region – using some of the specifics from the first report
to demonstrate why the utility’s arguments are inadequate. ENW
acknowledged that they had not reexamined some fundamental
aspects of seismic hazard assessment such as the location
of the faults, the lengths of the faults, the fault models,
earthquake frequencies, and earthquake magnitudes. Tolan
notes that “not reexamining these fundamental aspects was a
notable failure on Energy Northwest’s part.”
The
Oregon and Washington PSR letter to NRC Chair Macfarlane
also noted that, post Fukushima, the NRC has carried out two
seismic inspections of the CGS plant that were based on the
original, clearly inadequate, licensed earthquake standards.
They found that the Emergency Response Facilities, the Tower
Makeup system, the Fire Protection Systems, the Floor Drain
Isolation Valves and the Sump Level Switches were “not
seismically qualified.” The 2012 seismic inspections, known
as walk downs and walk bys, showed 109 “potentially adverse
seismic conditions” with 15 walk downs deferred and not yet
reported. The NRC has reported that many of these failings,
based upon the original earthquake standards, remain
unaddressed.
See
attachments:
Letter
from Drs. Pearson and Gilbert, Oregon & Washington PSR, to
NRC Chairwoman Allison Macfarlane, October 31, 2013
Tolan Report #1
Tolan Report #2
Attachments to Report #2:
Figure 1,
Figure 3,
Figure 4
Seismic Map for Mid-Columbia Basin
Hanford nuke plant’s earthquake risk underestimated, group
says by Sandi Doughton, Seattle Times, November
1, 2013
