Scott Burnell
Public Affairs Officer  The NRC’s technical staff, industry executives and a public interest group will brief the Commissioners Thursday
on the agency’s efforts to implement what we’ve learned from the
Fukushima nuclear accident. The bottom line is the NRC is ahead of
schedule on several fronts.
Some
of the best news involves U.S. reactors meeting requirements from two
of the NRC’s Fukushima-related Orders issued in March 2012. By the end
of this spring, almost a quarter of the U.S. fleet will comply with the Mitigation Strategies and Spent Fuel Pool Instrumentation
Orders. We expect more than half the fleet will meet those Orders by
the end of December, which is a full year before the Orders’ deadline.
Every
U.S. reactor will comply with the instrumentation requirements by the
December 2016 deadline. Every reactor will also comply by that time with
a major Mitigation Strategies requirement – additional, well-protected
onsite portable equipment to support key safety measures if an extreme
event disables a plant’s installed systems. The U.S. industry has
already set up two response centers
with even more equipment that can be transported to any U.S. reactor
within 24 hours. By the time we say good-bye to 2016, almost every
reactor will also have made all modifications needed to use those
portable systems. In preparing to meet the deadlines, U.S. reactors have
already enhanced their ability to keep the public safe.
About a dozen plants will have made all those modifications except changes closely related to the third Order, which requires Hardened Vents
for reactors with designs similar to those at Fukushima. These vents
would safely relieve pressure in an emergency and help other systems
pump cooling water into the core. All the reactors subject to the Order
have completed plans for the first set of vent enhancements or
installation of new vents.
The
NRC staff finished reviewing these plans earlier this month, ahead of
schedule, and issued written evaluations to each plant. The agency is
also about ready to issue guidance on how these plants can meet the
second part of the Order, which involves an additional vent or other
methods to protect the structure surrounding the reactor.
The
staff’s presentation will also cover topics including revising the
NRC’s rules in these areas, as well as the ongoing effort to re-evaluate
flooding hazards for all U.S. nuclear power plants. The NRC’s regional
offices will provide their perspective on the overall implementation
effort’s progress.
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Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire - Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry. Nuclear Activities
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
US NRC Blog Update: Plenty of Progress to Report on Fukushima-related Enhancements by Moderator
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