On March 11, 2011, an earthquake struck the Japanese coastline, followed by a tsunami that flooded towns and claimed thousands of lives. The heavy floodwaters also damaged the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
In just a few months, the second anniversary of this tragic and unprecedented natural event will be observed solemnly and respectfully. The U.S. nuclear industry has learned a great deal in the months following the Fukushima nuclear event, resulting in added safety margins to an already safe technology.
Fukushima raised concerns that in an extreme natural event a nuclear station could lose off-site electricity sources and backup electric generators needed to power critical plant safety systems. Heavy floodwaters severely degraded the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Station’s ability to cool the reactor fuel cores and spent fuel pools following the tsunami largely due to a loss of almost all electric power sources.
In response to such rare, extreme natural events, the industry has initiated a diverse “FLEX” strategy that provides an additional layer of safety through portable emergency response equipment maintained in close proximity to each station. This equipment includes transportable electric generators, pumps, hoses, batteries and other equipment not immediately available during the Fukushima event.
Recently, the nuclear industry expanded this FLEX strategy by announcing plans to open two regional response centers by August 2014. One will be located in Memphis, Tennessee, and the other in Phoenix, Arizona.These regional response centers will be able to deliver a full set of portable safety equipment, radiation protection equipment, electrical generators, pumps and other emergency response equipment to an affected site within 24 hours. In response to an extreme natural event similar to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, these two centers could play a critical role in the response and recovery of an unlikely nuclear-related event.
Regional response centers build on the defense in depth concept designed into nuclear plants. Nuclear plants are constructed with multiple backup safety systems that include redundant pumps, multiple backup electric generators and other equipment allowing the plant to reach cold shutdown even with significant equipment failure due to a natural event or problem with plant systems.
Regional response centers provide this additional “defense in depth” layer by making emergency equipment readily available to support each nuclear station in the country should an extreme natural event occur. If a nuclear site needed additional portable pumps, generators and other equipment beyond what it has stored at a nearby plant location, these regional centers would provide the necessary resources to support the station’s response.
The Fukushima earthquake and tsunami had a significant impact on Japan’s people, economy and the nuclear industry. Out of this unprecedented event has come better emergency response plans for the public and an even safer nuclear industry.
