North Anna has new safety regulations in place after earthquake - NBC12.com - Richmond, VA News

It's been almost one year since a 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit outside of Mineral. On Wednesday, NBC12 got a behind-the-scenes look at the North Anna Power Plant's new safety measures.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission now requires that North Anna have seismic monitors in place to measure how big an earthquake is, should one ever strike again. New equipment has been installed as an extra layer of protection and the plant now sees regular inspections.

"Many, many lessons we have learned in terms of equipment procedures and processes," said Dan Stoddard. He is the senior vice president of nuclear operations. "We are working to improve them all. The plant is safe now, we're going to take it to an even higher level of safety."

But according to Stoddard, the employees were trained and the plant was built to endure the earthquake. North Anna suffered no structural damage as a result of the quake.

"The preparation we had done ahead of time and the design and maintenance of the plant, paid dividends," said Stoddard. 

Dominion is preparing to build a third nuclear reactor at North Anna, but is still waiting on a permit to start construction.

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