DC QUAKE TURNS OFF TWO NUCLEAR REACTORS

Tuesday afternoon’s 5.8
earthquake caused two nuclear
reactors at a power plant outside
of Washington DC to go offline.
The facilities at Lake Anna,
roughly a dozen miles away from
the epicenter of today’s quake in
Virginia , was rated by the United
States Nuclear Regulatory
Commission as the seventh most
“at risk” plant of its type for
earthquake damage according to
a report released this March. That
analysis took into account the
100-plus power plants from
coast-to-coast and rated the
Virginia site’s odds of
experiencing a quake around 1
in 22,727.
Jim Norvelle of Dominion Power
added to the report, published by
NBC, that the plant was built to
withstand a magnitude of 5.9 to
6.1. Today’s quake was originally
rated a 5.9 before being
downgraded to 5.8.
Meanwhile, in the Washington DC
area, cell phone networks went
dark in the immediate aftermath
of the earthquake, which also
saw mass evacuations across the
greater DC area. Washingtonians
have been warned of aftershocks
and damage has been reported
in the Capitol Building and DC’s
Union Station. Federal buildings
in DC were evacuated and
employees were told not to come
back today.
The quake, whose epicenter is
placed at Mineral, Virginia, was
felt across the east coast, with
reports of tremors stretching
from North Carolina to Rhode
Island, New York City to Cleveland
and even in Toronto, Ontario,
Canada