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Nuclear Energy Insight

Spring 2012—The U.S. nuclear energy industry has implemented a far-reaching program to ensure that America’s 104 reactors will remain safe even if a site loses electrical power for an extended period.

Even though a nuclear energy facility generates electricity, it depends on power from the grid to operate. As one lesson learned from last year’s accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy facility, all U.S. nuclear energy companies have ordered pumps, generators, fire trucks and other portable equipment to provide electricity and cooling capability in an extreme event. The industry also will develop regional centers stocked with safety equipment and supplies that can be rushed to a reactor site, if needed.

“We can provide an indefinite supply of electrical power, enabling plant operators to prevent fuel damage,” said Anthony Pietrangelo, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer at the Nuclear Energy Institute.

The loss of electricity to power reactor cooling systems after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami resulted in damage to four reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant on Japan’s coastline. When a massive earthquake struck the facility, the reactors shut down safely, but the ensuing tsunami disabled backup generators and left the plant without power to cool the reactors.

The fuel overheated and melted, which led to the release of radiation.

The U.S. nuclear energy industry’s lessons learned from that event focus on ensuring backup supplies of power and cooling after an extreme event of any kind.

“We said, never mind how we got there, never mind debating how likely it could be or how extreme it could be,” said Charles Pardee, chief operating officer for Exelon Generation and chairman of the industry’s Fukushima Response Steering Committee.

Instead, the industry’s diverse and flexible coping approach, or “FLEX,” focuses on preventing the loss of power and cooling. All U.S. energy companies that operate reactors have ordered backup portable equipment to position at strategic locations on site and at regional centers. FLEX is designed to meet new requirements from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on emergency equipment.

—Read more articles in Nuclear Energy Insight and Insight Web Extra.