Tuesday, August 23, 2011

M5.9 earthquake causes North Anna Nuclear Generating Station shutdown

CNBC (host Bill Griffith) reports that the North Anna Nuclear Generating Station has shutdown automatically due to the magnitude 5.9 earthquake with its epicenter at Mineral, Virginia. The nuclear power plant is located about 10 miles Northeast of the epicenter of the quake and is running on backup diesel generators (presumably after losing external power!) per CNBC host Mandy Drury. Dominion Resources stock took a hit after the quake, which CNBC host Brian Sullivan mulls over. Was it a pre-packaged black box algorithm? I have parsed together some video clips of the CNBC coverage with the relevant sound bytes related to the nuclear plant.


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For addition general earthquake footage:

Street Signs CNBC covers the M5.9 earthquake with its epicenter at Mineral, Virginia. The quake was first reported as a 5.8, revised to 6.0 and back down to 5.9 by the USGS. According to CNBC, the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. was evacuated as well as the Pentagon. The NYSE was NOT evacuated. Although they report the Nymex was evacuated, actually they revised the report to indicate the Nymex was not an official evacuation rather just suggested. Annecdotal reports indicate the quake was felt as far North as Toronto and even felt in Illinois. Here where I live (a Chicago suburb) we did not feel anything. Probably the most important information to be garnered is that the earthquake caused the North Anna Nuclear Generating Station 10 miles away from the epicenter of the quake to be shut down automatically. The latest report is that the nuke plant is running on backup diesel generators, having lost external power.

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