NRC Auditing Earthquake Readiness of Western Pennsylvania Plant

Inspectors from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission are set to review the ability of a western Pennsylvania power plant to withstand an earthquake.

The inspectors will be at FirstEnergy Corp.’s Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station in Shippingport Monday and Tuesday to audit the situation.

The NRC inspectors will review seismic inspections done by plant workers. Those inspections have been required since an earthquake and tsunami caused a near meltdown at a nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan two years ago.

The Beaver County Times reports the audit will determine whether plant workers properly completed the inspections and related evaluations. The audit’s finding will be published in about three months.

The plant is located about 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.