Scott DiSavino: Sandy Likely to Shut at least two NJ Nuclear Reactors!!

At least two major New Jersey nuclear power plants are likely to shut on Monday as Hurricane Sandy makes landfall as a Category 1 storm, and more plants could reduce power as the storm triggers precautionary safety measures. Sandy, centered over the Atlantic Ocean about 310 miles southeast of New York City, was expected to hit near Delaware and south New Jersey in about 12 hours as a Category 1 hurricane, with winds of up to 90 miles per hour. The nuclear reactors in Sandy's current path include units at Public Service Enterprise Group Inc's 2,332 megawatt (MW) Salem and 1,161 MW Hope Creek plants in New Jersey, which were likely to bear the brunt of the storm before it moves inland. Those plants combined would account for about 19 percent of the state's total electricity capacity, although New Jersey also draws supplies from the whole Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland power region. PJM is the biggest power grid in the United States, serving more than 60 million people in 13 US Mid Atlantic and Midwest states and the District of Columbia. Electricity traders said if Sandy continues on her expected path, it was likely PSEG would have to shut the Salem and Hope Creek reactors later Monday, but they were mixed on whether the storm's winds would still be strong enough to force the shutdown reactors in Pennsylvania and Maryland, crossing near Constellation Nuclear Energy Group's 1,705 MW Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant Maryland, Exelon Corp's 2,244 MW Peach Bottom, 805-MW Three Mile Island and 2,264 MW Limerick in Pennsylvania, and PPL Corp's 2,450 2,450 MW Susquehanna in Pennsylvania. All US reactors have procedures that require operators to shut the units when hurricane force winds reach their siies, or when flood-waters reach certain levels. Nuclear power represents about 18 percent of the generating capacity in the US Mid Atlantic region. One megawatt powers about 1,000 homes. A few reactors in the area were already shut down for refueling or other maintenance, including Exelon's Oyster Creek in New Jersey, and PPL's Susquehanna in Pennsylvania.