Nuclear plants are vulnerable

January 28, 2015

Snowstorm shuts down US nuclear plant

Jan. 28, 2015 - Updated 06:06 UTC+1

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html

A nuclear power plant in the US state of Massachusetts has been forced to shut down after a power line cut out during a blizzard hitting the East Coast.

Authorities say the incident is posing no danger to the public.

The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth stopped running automatically early on Tuesday after the power supply from an off-site line was interrupted. Nuclear power plants receive a certain amount of power from outside for operational purposes.

The country's Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the plant operator say the facility is now being powered by emergency diesel generators and that the reactor is cooling down safely.

The plant had been operating with reduced output since Sunday because of the snowstorm. Emergency diesel generators had also been turned on before the incident took place.

The NRC said the plant has 2 main off-site power lines. The other one had already been disconnected because of weather concerns.

It is not yet known when the off-site power source will become operational. But the operator said the facility has enough fuel on-site to run the emergency generators for 10 days. It said additional off-site power is also available.