Cary, north carolina

[willowfly]

I honestly think most new comers don't know about it, unless it is disclosed in a real estate sales etc. I know several people that live in the evacuation zone and have no clue and probably don't care either. I know of another family in Holly Springs and there comment to me is that they understand that if there is an accident they will never be able to go back to their home, but in the meantime they do not want their children to go to school within the evacuation zone, knowing there would be some delay in getting all the buses to the schools and the kids evacuated. Their kids go to school in Raleigh...but don't worry Wake Co. is busing "diversity" students into the fall-out zone.

[fly_widget]

Originally Posted by willowfly

I honestly think most new comers don't know about it, unless it is disclosed in a real estate sales etc.

My first five years in the area, I was in Durham and had no idea of the plant down in HS. DH and I moved to Apex earlier this year and he brought it up (not as a concern but as an interesting side note).

To be fair to the OP, I did ask DH if there was anything to be concerned about. He said no and started listing all the reasons why not...I zoned out after "No."

[ncdust]

If the OP was either Japanese, or lived in Japan during the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, I could well understand the concern.

Before the tsunami, approx. 30% of Japan's electric power generation was nuclear - now it's only a few percent. The exclusion zone around the damaged Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant (melt-down, containment breaches) reaches out some 15 miles, or roughly the size of Wake county:



If a similar severity event (however unlikely) occurred at Shearon Harris, the initial 50 mile evacuation zone would encompass Greensboro, Wake Forest and Fayetteville - a LOT of people.

The current exclusion zone for the Chernobyl area is currently 1,000 square mile, I believe.

Is it likely that Shearon Harris could suffer the same fate as the similarly designed Fukushima units, no, and it appears the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has taken steps to learn (and adapt) from the Fukushima event(s) (generator fail-over, etc.)

There are places one can live "away" from nuclear power plants (central western U.S., for example), but on the east coast, we're pretty much downwind (blowing NE) from a plant everywhere ... especially North Carolina.

Some reading:

How Safe Are U.S. Nuclear Reactors? Lessons from Fukushima - Scientific American
After Fukushima, a tour of the Shearon Harris nuclear power facility | Casual Observer | Indy Week

P.S. I'm not an expert in this subject - just trying to express a view.

[LLN]

If a tsunami reaches Cary, the nuc plant will be the least of your worries!

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by LLN

If a tsunami reaches Cary, the nuc plant will be the least of your worries!

Yup.
.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hXcu-siGqc