Hurricane Matthew is making its way across the Easy Coast of the United States. Some states have already began evacuating its residents and over one million people are already without power.
President Barack Obama has urged Florida and Georgia residents to be alert and pay attention to what local officials are saying.
“This is still a really dangerous hurricane,” said Obama. “We’re not going to know for three, four, five days what the ultimate effects of this story are.”
According to CNN, the hurricane has already displayed winds of 115 miles per hour at the center and is causing debris, flooding, and chaos all over the East Coast.
Despite the Hurricane affecting the East Coast, energy experts believe the storm won’t affect the 11 nuclear reactors located on that part of the country.
“Nuclear power plants are the most robust in the U.S. infrastructure, with reactor containment structures of steel-reinforced concrete engineered to withstand extreme natural events,” said Meghan Miles, a Duke Energy spokeswoman.
Because hurricanes are predictable, people can plan ahead to further reinforce important structures like nuclear reactors.
The Daily Caller reports that these reactors will continue to have employees working on staff during the storm to handle any emergency situations. They will shut down the reactors for at least two hours right before the worst part of the storm hits, however.
“We are closely monitoring Hurricane Matthew in the Atlantic and making all necessary preparations,” said Michelle Tims, spokeswoman for Southern Nuclear. “Our plants have redundant safety systems that are designed to withstand the impact of earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods.”
Nuclear power generates the majority of the electricity in that part of the United States. About 54% of all electricity produced in South Carolina comes from four different nuclear power plants.
As long as industry leaders are correct and nothing too bad happens, investing in energy might be a a popular investment during the days following the storm. Investing in nuclear energy stocks and investing in energy companies directly after these nuclear energy plants withstood a category 4 hurricane. If you are serious about investing in energy, do plenty of online research and stay safe out there!
