7 nuclear reactors downstream from dam threatened by sinkhole

Sinkhole develops under dam in US 

• 7 nuclear reactors downstream
• Water now seeping out
• Gov’t notified of ‘stability issues’, plants begin evaluating potential flood impacts
• Official: An ‘uncommon’ occurrence, we’re monitoring it continuously and working around clock
• Structure same height as Niagra Falls

ENENews,

31 October, 201

Johnson City Press, Oct. 30, 2014 (emphasis added): Oct. 20 inspection of [Tennessee's Boone] dam revealed a sink hole… Six days later, an uncommon occurrence happened when seepage was found near the location of the sink hole at the base of the dam…

NRC, Oct. 30, 2014: … BOONE DAM STABILITY ISSUES… “TVA conducted a briefing for government officials… after discovery of a sink hole near the base… water and sediment [has been] found seeping from the river below the dam. TVA is continuously monitoring the dam… The dam is located upstream of all three TVA nuclear sites… The NRC Senior Resident Inspector was notified. The licensee is evaluating this event for potential impact on the design basis flooding level.”

Times Free Press, Oct. 30, 2014: Tennessee Valley Authority engineers [will] search for the source of water seepage… Water and sediment were found Sunday seeping from the river bank below the dam.

TVA, Oct. 30, 2014: A sink hole was discovered near the base… water and sediment was found seeping from the river bank below the dam…

John McCormick, VP at TVA: [We're] exercising an abundance of caution… Unless it’s a huge storm, we can do what we need… we are continuously monitoring the dam… engineers want to be sure we understand what caused the sink hole and where the water and sediment is coming from.

WCYB, Oct. 30, 2014: [A] sinkhole and seepage of clay particulates into the water at Boone dam… [is near] the bottom of structure on the river side of the dam… 

TVA employees are working around the clock to find the cause of the sinkhole and the source of the seepage. “The seepage into the waterway is not a common occurrence,” said McCormick… they do not have a definite timetable for finding the source of the seepage…

Boone Dam is just over the border from Virginia, where a powerful M5.9 quake struck in 2011 — 

Times Free Press: TVA inspects dams, nuclear plants after earthquake [and] is in the process of performing visual walk downs and inspections at… Boone

USGS: [Quakes] in the eastern U.S. can travel much farther and cause damage over larger areas than previously thought [and] damaging effects can extend over a much larger area… the farthest landslide from the 2011 Virginia earthquake was 245 km from the epicenter. This is by far the greatest landslide distance recorded from any other earthquake of similar magnitude… [This quake] occurred in an area 20 times larger than expected [and] landslide distances… are remarkable… [it's] the largest distance limit ever recorded…

See also: NRC Engineers Charge Gov't Coverup -- Reactor melt down an "absolute certainty" if dam fails -- 100s of times more likely than tsunami that hit