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Anticipating the public’s need to understand what’s going on at the
Palisades
nuclear plant, the NRC held a public meeting in South Haven, Michigan,
on February 29, to provide members of the public with a forum to discuss
the decline in the plant’s performance and the significant increase in
NRC inspections.
More
than 100 people showed up to ask questions and express their concerns
about the Palisades plant, where the NRC has issued a number of
significant enforcement actions in last year. Some in the audience
questioned whether the growing number of NRC violations at Palisades
suggested the plant was not safe.
Three
of the violations found at Palisades had to do with improper
maintenance work, which caused pumps, electrical breakers, and other
equipment to fail. The equipment failures did not put the public at
risk, and NRC required they be fixed. Backup equipment was also
available if needed to ensure safety.
Backup
equipment is required by NRC and is part of our “defense in depth”
safety philosophy. If a safety system or component fails, another one
must be available in case of an accident. Of course, the NRC does not
wait for accidents to happen: the NRC’s low threshold for identifying
safety issues like those at Palisades requires problems to be found and
fixed well before the public is endangered.
Although
the problems at Palisades have not endangered the public, they do cause
concern, and require more stringent NRC oversight. As part of its
increased oversight, the NRC will independently evaluate whether there
are problems with the safety culture at Palisades, and inspection of
Palisades will remain heightened until performance at Palisades
improves. If at any time the NRC loses confidence that the plant can be
safely operated, it would take action to shut the plant down.
The
public will have another opportunity to ask questions about Palisades
on March 21 at the upcoming “end of cycle” meeting in South Haven, where
NRC will meet with Entergy, the company that operates the plant. Look
for details about the meeting to be published online at the
NRC’s public meeting website in the near future.
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