As the daily bad news from Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant ripples around the world, angst has accelerated about the potential environmental and human health threat of nuclear power.. For instance, according to Business Week Magazine, Germany’s conservative chancellor, Angela Merkel, has ordered the powering down of that country’s five oldest reactors until there is a complete safety review.
Although Southern Maryland has lived with the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant since the 1970s’s, the more than 40,000 people living within the 10-mile radius of the plant and under the sirens that would blast an alarm if there was a problem at the plant, cannot help but wonder if in fact the same thing that happened in Japan could happen to them.
Last Friday, Calvert County and Calvert Cliffs officials held a Media Open House to attempt to show that the local community and the local plant are prepared for emergencies. If there was an emergency Constellation Energy Nuclear Group’s nerve center would be their Emergency Operations Facility on Skipjack Road in the Calvert County Industrial Park near the Benedict Bridge. For Calvert County, the base of operations would be in the basement of the courthouse on Main Street in Prince Frederick at the Emergency Operations Center.
Also, Constellation officials gave a briefing Tuesday to the St. Mary’s County Commissioners. Constellation’s Site Vice President at Calvert Cliffs George Gellrich said the major difference between the Japanese plant and Calvert Cliffs is the height above sea level. The Fukushima Daiichi plant withstood the earthquake quite well, but it was the 30-foot tsunami that did it in. The water surge overcame the diesel -fuel storage tank, which in turn cut off emergency power to the plant. Water then entered the cooling water building.
Gellrich said he worked formerly at a plant designed like the one in Japan. He said something happened there that he doesn’t understand. Instead of venting into the atmosphere, as the system was intended, it vented into the building and ignited.
Calvert Cliff’s key components are 45 feet above sea level. The diesel fuel storage tanks, in addition to being higher, are encased in concert as an extra protection and are designed to withstand a tornado or hurricane.
Calvert Cliffs, according to Gellrich, is in an area considered to be in a “low-risk earthquake zone.” The plant is designed to withstand the most severe earthquake registered in the area, which occurred near Wilmington, Delaware.
For U.S. nuclear power plants, Gellrich said September 11, 2001 was a wake-up call. Plants were retrofitted to withstand an airplane crash. He said Constellation spent $26 million last year alone in security upgrades.
Last week the media was given the unusual tour of both the Constellation and Calvert County facilities. Communication between the two facilities would be via a telephone hotline. Technical data would be shared on line.
There’s a conference room set aside at Constellation’s Emergency Operations Facility for local officials. Dedicated rooms for agencies such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Maryland Department of the Environment ring the command center. “Everything we do here is focused on the safety and health of the public, said Constellation’s Director of Emergency Preparedness Michael Fick during their facility’s tour. That facility is not operational daily, but routine exercises are held there.
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