What happens if a big earthquake hits a nuclear reactor?

Question

Just wondering France is planning 14 new reactors what’s the safety protocol if an earth quake hits a reactor and does it do much damage to the environment around it

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Answer 1

Depends entirely on the design of the reactor and what safety measures exist there and how strong the earthquake is and what the local natural features are like.

The biggest risk is similar to what we saw at Fukushima, where radioactive material from inside leaks out and contaminates the soil and water in the area (and that can be bad if the water flows to other places). Otherwise, reactors are built with a lot of safeguards in place now so it’s not going to like meltdown and go out of control like we saw in Chernobyl.