Oyster Creek may have to use fire suppression system to cool high-level radioactive waste storage pool

As reported by Reuters, Exelon Nuclear's Oyster Creek atomic reactor on the NJ shore (photo, left) may need to use its in-house fire suppression system's emergency water supply in order to cool its high-level radioactive waste storage pool, after water levels in the Forked River and Barnegat Bay rose nearly 7.5 feet above normal due to Hurricane Sandy. As reported by Reuters, 'the nation's oldest facility declared a rare "alert" after the record storm surge pushed flood waters high enough to endanger a key cooling system.'

Water levels were apparently high enough to "submerge the service water pump motor that is used to cool the water in the spent fuel pool, potentially forcing it to use emergency water supplies from the in-house fire suppression system to keep the rods from overheating," the article reports. NRC informed Reuters that "the company had moved a portable pump to the water intake structure as a precaution, but has not needed to use it."

Oyster Creek issued a rare "Alert," eliciting comment from a high-level Obama administration official running the federal government's response to Hurricane Sandy:

"'Right now there's no imminent threat of releases. There's no protective actions around the plant,' Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said on the Today Show.

'Some of these reporting requirements are due though to the severity of the storms. That they have to make these notifications based upon conditions, that does not mean that they are in an imminent threat at the plant,' Fugate said."

But even if Fugate is speaking truth, the nuclear establishment's past lies can lead to public distrust. Rosalie Bertell's book No Immediate Danger? challenged the U.S. nuclear establishment's flip use of such deceptive phraseology in the aftermath of the Three Mile Island meltdown of 1979. Such bad memories were revived by Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano's use of the phrase "no immediate health risk" in the first days of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe.

Reuters reports that the high-level radioactive waste in Oyster Creek's pool could cause the water to boil in about 25 hours without additional coolant; "in an extreme scenario the rods could overheat, risking the eventual release of radiation."

As pointed out by Gregg Levine at Capitoilette, "If hoses desperately pouring water on endangered spent fuel pools remind you of Fukushima, it should. Oyster Creek is the same model of GE boiling water reactor that failed so catastrophically in Japan."

Ironically enough, during Oyster Creek's troubles -- which included loss of offsite power and the need to fire up two emergency diesel generators on site to provide electricity -- by 3:20 AM Tuesday, October 30th, 36 of 43 of Oyster Creek's emergency warning sirens were dysfunctional, according to an NRC "event notification." Thus, when needed most, emergency sirens often don't work, as they are grid connected, and not backed up, as by solar panels.