Nearby Nuclear Plant Has Similar Design To Japan's Plant
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The eyes of the world remain on the nuclear plant in Japan, crippled by the earthquake and tsunami.
Mike Hellgren has more on concerns about a plant near Maryland that has a similar design to the Japanese plant.
It's called a boiling water design. Spent nuclear fuel is stored in pools on the roof. It's only about 40 miles away from Baltimore City.
Peach Bottom Nuclear Plant is home of the closest reactors to Baltimore. It shares a design with the troubled plant in Japan. Twenty-three are now in operation across the U.S.
The aging design is unsafe and should be shut down, says Paul Gunter with Beyond Nuclear.
"It represents not only a bad design but an aging facility. Any number of events could be the match that lights the next nuclear fire," Gunter said.
But a spokesman for Peach Bottom says comparisons are problematic and Peach Bottom has more, numerous and redundant safety systems and undergoes rigorous inspections. He added that the tsunami caused many of the problems in Japan and that's unlikely to happen here.
Advocates for nuclear power also point to lessons learned at nearby Three Mile Island in 1979 during the partial meltdown. They say the industry is now safer.
"The actions taken by the industry since Three Mile Island have prepared us to deal with events just like Japan and maybe even worse," said Marvin Fertel, Nuclear Energy Institute.
In Delta, the small town near the Maryland state line closest to Peach Bottom, Japan's nuclear crisis has caused concern.
"It's just something you deal with every day," said John Kelly.
"It doesn't need to be a tsunami or an earthquake to initiate a reactive failure," said Gunter.
Another kind of problem happened back in 2007. A CBS investigation exposed security guards sleeping while on the job. Peach Bottom's owner took action and got rid of the company that supplied the guards.
Each nuclear plant can operate without external power for at least a month. The reactor is supposed to shut down automatically if there is a power outage.
