NRC hosts open house on Catawba Nuclear Station
Nuclear Regulators in Rock Hill Tuesday say despite a power failure a month ago that caused the Catawba Nuclear Station to fully shut down — the Lake Wylie-based facility operated in the “green” in 2011.
NRC Spokesman Joey Ledford said that nuclear power facilities have been the subject of a lot of public interest since 9-eleven and more recently, the May 2011 earthquake in that led to a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.
[audio: 0424-Ledford-C.mp3]The incident a month ago at Catawba was a loss of on-site power that caused an automatic shutdown of the plant until the issue could be resolved.
NRC officials say the exact reason why that incident won’t be known until February.
And while Tuesday’s event did not draw a large turnout, Ledford says such open houses can draw crowds, that particularly in the Northeast, are less comfortable with nuclear power generation.
[audio: 0424-Ledford-B.mp3]Duke Energy, which owns and operates the Catawba plant, is also seeking a license from te NRC to open a nuclear power plant in Cherokee County.
NRC Chief Reactor Project Manager Jonathon Bartley says that the Cherokee license process is independent of any of Duke’s current facilities.
[audio: 0424-Bartley-B.mp3]The NRC is hosting the second of two open houses Thursday night, focusing on the McGuire Nuclear Station in Huntersville.
