Memo says utility, U.S. covered up fault line's existence

The North Anna nuclear power plant in central Virginia which has been off-line since the earthquake in August, was built on fault lines that were known at the time of it's construction. This fact was not only covered up by Virginia Electric, but by the Atomic Energy Commission as well.

Dominion Virginia Power and federal nuclear regulatory staff members covered up knowledge of geologic faulting at the North Anna Power Station site in 1973, according to a U.S. Justice Department memo. The company, then operating as Virginia Electric and Power Co., or Vepco, told the former Atomic Energy Commission in June 1973 that "faulting of rock at the site is neither known nor suspected," even though the company knew about the existence of faulting at North Anna, the 1977 memo said. Earthquakes occur as a result of movement on faults, and quakes can be powerful enough to damage a nuclear power station. Dominion's two 980-megawatt nuclear reactors at North Anna have been shut down since Aug. 23, when a magnitude-5.8 earthquake hit central Virginia.

It seems construction was already well underway when the faults were discovered.

n 1970, the construction contractor, Stone & Webster, discovered indications of faulting in the excavation for Unit 1, but it was not until April 1973 that the contractor told Vepco it had found a possible fault in the then-proposed Unit 3 excavation. Contract and utility officials and geological consultants debated the nature of the geological feature, but by May 14, 1973, all the geologists involved concluded a fault existed on the site, the memo said. If the fault was considered capable of producing an earthquake, the plant could have had to be redesigned or relocated, and delayed, after Vepco had invested about $730 million in the site, Whitman said.

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I guess if you're already into something for $730 million it's too late to go back, besides it's only a nuclear power plant, what could possibly go wrong?
So VEPCO alerts the AEC, but they make sure to keep it on the "down low".

Though Vepco told the AEC, it did so by phone, Whitman's memo said, "to avoid leaking the information to the general public."

The Atomic Energy Commission is replaced by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1975, so what did the NRC know?

At the same time, "virtually the entire Office of Regulation of the (Nuclear Regulator Commission was) …well aware of the fault and determined not to take any immediate action" to stop the plant's construction or reopen the licensing hearings, Whitman wrote in the 1977 memo, which the Richmond Times-Dispatch recently obtained.

This article is dated 11/6.

The Richmond-based company said the two reactors are ready to go back into operation, only waiting for Nuclear Regulatory Commission permission to restart.

I guess they figure lightening never strikes the same place twice, I hope they're right.

August's earthquake occurred about 11 miles west-southwest of the power station. About 25,000 people live within 10 miles of the North Anna station.

Source:pogo.ly...
Source:www2.timesdispatch.com...