Global warming threatens safety of nuclear power plants

National Geographic : Because nuclear reactors require vast amounts of cool water, they are frequently located near coastlines. As demonstrated by Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011, that proximity to water can be a liability. Since then countries around the world have been reassessing their nuclear plants’ vulnerability to floods and storm surges. In the US, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has taken several actions to address the issue, particularly now that global warming is causing sea levels to rise everywhere. Those actions include requiring that all existing and future US nuclear power plants have mitigating strategies, onsite emergency response procedures, and emergency plans in case of a prolonged blackout. According to Ken Holt, a spokesperson for Dominion, which operates the Millstone nuclear plant in Connecticut, the more immediate concern from climate change may be the rise in seawater temperatures, because nuclear plants need the water to help cool the reactors.