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News bites: Sandy’s energy toll
Hurricane Sandy’s onslaught left at least 16 people dead in the U.S. and an estimated 7.5 million people without power, Reuters reports.
Bloomberg reports that oil is trading at nearly four-month lows as the storm cut East Coast refinery output and kept drivers
off the roads.
The Associated Press reports that one of the reactors at the Indian Point nuclear plant 45 miles north of New York City was shut down “because of external electrical grid issues.”
It was already offline for refueling, and high water levels led officials to declare an “unusual event” that was later upgraded to an “alert,” which is the second-lowest in the NRC’s four-tiered system.
From AP:
A rising tide, the direction of the wind and the storm’s surge combined to raise water levels in Oyster Creek’s intake structure, the NRC said. The agency said that water levels are expected to recede within hours and that the plant, which went online in 1969 and is set to close in 2019, is watertight and capable of withstanding hurricane-force winds.
Plant owner Exelon Corp., said power was disrupted in the plant’s switchyard but that diesel backup generators were running, the news service reports.
In non-Sandy news, The Wall Street Journal reports that BP’s third-quarter profit slipped as maintenance in the North Sea and Alaska and the impact of Hurricane Isaac crimped its oil and gas output.
