Big Chill indeed – no power during a major blizzard?
“The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is putting out word that 17 nuclear power stations, with a total of 26 reactor units, could shut down if the historic blizzard smashing into the East Coast carries high winds, as expected. “If wind speeds are in excess of specified limits, a plant would have to shut down,” said the NRC, without specifying those limits for the 17 plants.
The agency called the storm “the most potent” of the year that “could produce prodigious amounts of snow, hurricane-force winds and dangerous travel conditions.” Many are in the direct path of the storm. In New York, for example, the two Indian Point units are just 24 miles north of New York City. In Massachusetts, Pilgrim 1 is in Plymouth, 38 miles southeast of Boston.
And of course, just north of Boston is Seabrook Station here in NH. That’s a whole lotta megawatts that will go offline if they shutdown -. And that means, with the decrease of generating plants already gone for good because of Obama’s “electricity rates will necessarily soar” policies as expressed by his EPA’s ongoing assault on our domestic energy industries, there may have to be brownouts during this storm (leaving aside that the high winds may create lots of blackouts due to down wires). And with those megawatts gone, people are going to wish for more than a bit of “global warming” as they go “Hey, what’s with the thermostat and furnace” as the lights go out. And remember, far more people die of cold than they do of heat.
TMEW and I agreed a bit ago tonite – one of my past smarter decisions when we moved up here to NH 30 years ago was to insist on a home with a wood burning stove. It’s cranking now, heating up the large thermal mass that is our center chimney so if we lose power, no big deal – lots of wood ready to go.
(H/T: Washington Examiner)
