Nuclear plants shut down as Sandy slams US

Two US nuclear power plants were shut down early Tuesday in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, but the plant operators stressed there were no risks to the public.

New Jersey's main power company PSEG Nuclear shut down its Salem 1 unit on the Delaware river, saying most of its water circulation pumps had been rendered unusable "due to weather impacts".

PSEG said it manually shut down the 1,175 MW unit, but said there were "no issues" in the shutdown and the facility was "currently stable."

The Salem 2 unit was already offline for maintenance when the storm hit, and PSEG said another nearby nuclear unit, Hope Creek, remains operating at full power.

In New York, power generator Entergy shut down a unit of its Indian Point nuclear facility "due to external electrical grid issues."

Another unit remained at full power, and Entergy said on Twitter that there was "no risk" to the public or company employees.

Late Monday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it was monitoring all plants in the US northeast as Sandy pushed up water levels in rivers and bays, which are crucial for cooling operations at the facilities.

The Oyster Creek plant in New Jersey, which was in a regularly scheduled outage when the storm hit, set off an alert when floodwaters exceeded a threshold set for its water intake facilities.

(AFP)

In pictures: 'SUPER STORM' Sandy batters US East Coast Potomac River in Alexandria, Virginia. Posted by DelRayPatch (Instagram). Flooding in Brooklyn, New York City. Posted by @HurricanePhotos (Twitter). Hoboken Subway Station, New Jersey (AFP). View of Manhattan, New York City from Brooklyn (photo by Margot Pascal). Fire officers in New York City brave the floodwater. Posted by @newyorkcityliz (Instagram). Floods swallow a car in Zone B, New York City. Posted by @chrisconnolly (Twitter). FDR Parkway, New York City. Posted by @YourAnonNews (Twitter). An apartment facade is torn off in Chelsea, New York City. Posted by @MegRobertson (Twitter). Firefighters tackle a large blaze in the Breezy Point neighbourhood of Queens, New York City (screenshot, NBC New York). Rushing floodwater in the Financial District, Manhattan (Andrew Burton/ Getty Images/ AFP). NYPD forces are almost the only customers in a New York City café. Posted by Jean-Bernard Cadier, BFMTV correspondent (@jbcadier, Twitter). A CNN reporter knee-deep in floodwater. Screengrab posted by @BrunoBalmokoun (Twitter). Power outage in Manhattan, New York City (Getty Images/AFP). Rainbow over Williamsburg, Brooklyn, morning after Hurricane Sandy hit New York (photo by Margot Pascal).