Hurricanes nothing new to Duke Energy

Hurricanes are nothing new to Duke Energy, whose origins are North Carolina. “We train for this eventuality,” says Duke’s Chris Rimel, a company spokesman based at Duke’s World of Energy in Oconee County. Duke operates nuclear plants in the direct path of Hurricane Florence. “We are required to shut down by federal regulations two hours before a hurricane hits. Our plants on that side of the Carolinas have done that. The rest of them are at full power right now, says Rimel. The Duke Energy spokesman also talked about the flex dome that was built on the grounds of the Oconee Nuclear Station a few years after Japan experienced an earthquake-tsunami event. That structure houses trucks, tractors and other equipment to help cool a reactor if something happened “beyond design basis” meaning hurricanes, tornadoes, hail storms, high winds, says Rimel.