DEAR News Of The Area,

FOR the third time in a fortnight, the Hunter Valley has experienced a damaging earthquake near Muswellbrook, cutting power to more than 2,750 homes.

The 4.5 magnitude quake, at 5:58 am on Saturday 7 September, struck Edderton and was felt across the Hunter Valley and Newcastle area.

A 4.7 magnitude quake on 23 August was felt across the Hunter Valley, Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Port Stephens.

Continuing tectonic activity in the Hunter Valley has caused mass power outages, water outages and minor structural damage, raising serious questions about Mr Dutton’s planned nuclear reactors on the Muswellbrook site of the former Liddell coal-fired power station.

These continuing earthquakes demonstrate the serious risk of sudden power outages which can rapidly disable reactor controls and core cooling systems, leading to a loss of coolant accident, core overheating, and sometimes core meltdowns and explosions.

Loss of coolant is one of the most dangerous events that can suddenly strike a nuclear fission reactor.

It was a major factor in several nuclear accidents, including:

– Chalk River, Canada in December 1952

– Frenchtown Charter Township, USA in October 1966

– Lucens, Switzerland in January 1969

– Three Mile Island, USA in March 1979

– Browns Ferry, USA in March 1985

– Chornobyl (Chernobyl), USSR in April 1986

– Vandellòs, Spain in October 1989

– Forsmark, Sweden in July 2006

– Fukushima, Japan in March 2011.

What guarantee is there that Muswellbrook or other planned nuclear sites won’t suffer similar earthquake damage and loss of coolant accidents?

The risk is unacceptable, in my view.

Regards,
Kenneth HIGGS,
Raymond Terrace.