Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said a tour of California's two active nuclear power plants has led her to conclude that the U.S. should "rethink" spent fuel safety procedures. Feinstein found spent nuclear fuel rods stored in pools similar to the ones leaking radiation at the crippled Japanese reactors, the San Francisco Chronicle reported today. Feinstein, who chairs a Senate Appropriations subcommittee with oversight responsibilities for such issues, was quoted by the Chronicle as saying: "I have a hard time understanding why the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not mandated more rapid transfer of spent fuel to dry casks. There were no problems with dry cask storage at Daiichi. To me, that suggests we should at least consider a policy that would encourage quicker movement of spent fuel to dry cask storage."
NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko, and Peter Lyons, acting assistant DOE secretary for nuclear energy, said the storage pools are safe for at least 100 years. Wrote the Chronicle: "Jaczko said a 90-day review and long-term study of the Japan accident will examine storage issues, but he said the storage pools in U.S. plants are 'very robust structures'." He was quoted as saying: "Every country has taken a different approach" to safety, describing a rigorous process of U.S. safety improvements, including "'multiple layers' of redundant containment, backup systems, emergency planning, improved controls to prevent hydrogen explosions of the kind seen in Japan, and permanent on-site inspections."
San Francisco (Calif.) Chronicle, March 31.
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