Oct. 30, 2014—The first domed concrete on-site emergency equipment facility in the United States has been completed at Dominion’s North Anna nuclear energy facility in Virginia.
The “beyond design dome,” constructed of steel-reinforced concrete, will store emergency equipment and supplies as part of the diverse and flexible (or FLEX) coping strategy initiated at U.S. plants in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi accident. FLEX calls for every U.S. nuclear energy facility to store and protect on site a range of portable equipment to mitigate beyond-design-basis events.
FLEX facilities are underway at other Dominion reactor sites, with domes at Millstone in Connecticut and Surry in Virginia expected to be completed this year. American Business Continuity Domes (ABC Domes), which constructed the North Anna dome designed by Engineering System Solutions, also is working on seven other domes for two other utilities.