Decade
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Shundahai is a Newe (Western Shoshone) word meaning "Peace and Harmony with all Creation"
April 9, 2006
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Warnings Silent at North Anna
The warning-siren system surrounding North Anna Power Station failed to operate properly during an unscheduled test this week. According to an event report filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an actuation signal was not received at a transmitter that relays the signal to the sirens. The problem was detected at 12:51 p.m. Wednesday and was corrected about 12 minutes later. The situation is not considered an emergency under NRC guidelines, but any loss of the nuclear plant's emergency-notification system must be reported to the regulatory agency. "We do a lot with the sirens to make sure they operate [properly]," Richard Zuercher, spokesman for Dominion Power's nuclear operations, said yesterday. He said technicians quickly discovered the problem and are examining the system to see what went wrong. A secondary activation system is being installed in case the primary system fails. There are 67 sirens within a 10-mile radius of the Louisa County plant on Lake Anna. The sirens are to notify residents in that area if there is an accident or emergency, such as a release of radiation. Thousands of people now live in the once-undeveloped zone around the plant in portions of Caroline, Hanover, Louisa and Spotsylvania counties. Problems with the sirens have cropped up from time to time. On a few occasions, weather and power losses knocked out some of them. Several years ago, a false alarm unnerved people living near the plant. In March 2005, the power station briefly lost the ability to activate them. More recently, some residents living near the plant have complained that they have been unable to hear the sirens during regularly scheduled quarterly tests. Dominion, which owns and operates the plant, has been upgrading the sirens and the transmitting equipment. The siren-test signal is one, three-minute blast. An actual emergency would be signaled by four separate, three-minute tones, each separated by one-minute intervals. The total time for an emergency sound would be 15 minutes. The next regular siren test at North Anna is scheduled May 17 at 11:10 a.m. To reach RUSTY DENNEN:540/374-5431 Copyright 2006 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company.
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