Nuclear Can Take Toughest Blows, Regulators say

Ken Silverstein | Feb 02, 2012

 

Despite a tumultuous year, the nuclear energy sector says that it is well-prepared for the future and can withstand whatever Mother Nature throws at it. That’s also what regulators are saying, noting that if an accident were to occur and if proper steps are taken then the risk of dying from exposure to radiation is remote. 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has released its State-of-the-Art Reactor Consequences Analysis, which looked at at two plants owned by Exelon and Dominion that it says are representative of the reactors in operation here. The analysis concludes that even if a huge disaster hit this country, the risks to the general public would be minimal.

That’s because plants here are “redundant,” which means that they have back-up power systems to keep radiated fuel rods cool, which prevents a meltdown and the escape of radiation. Along with that, plant operators are well-trained. Those safety measures would mean that local populations would have time to evacuate. 

“Successful implementation of existing mitigation measures can prevent reactor core damage or delay or reduce offsite releases of radioactive material,” the NRC says. “As a result, the calculated risks of public health consequences from severe accidents are very small.”

That study comes on the heels of another one by the NRC. There, the commission developed a more recent model to determine the odds of seismic activity. As such, it is asking nuclear plant operators to detail how their reactors would withstand earthquakes, given the “higher likelihood” of one occurring.

The NRC’s new seismic risk model examines the history of earthquakes here for more than four centuries. And while the study has been in progress for the last four years, it has taken on new meaning in the aftermath of Japan’s nuclear tragedy as well as the tremors here along the east coast. As such, all plant owners must re-evaluate their risks under the new scenarios using the current seismic data.

“Nuclear safety is our foundation. Every thing we do is derived from our commitment to ensure safety is our top value nuclear energy,” Constellation Energy tweeted after the NRC’s orders.

Japanese Context

For its part, the NRC is saying that while the new model will reveal that “ground motion” is more likely, it does not then equate to greater “overall risks.” The utilities running such operations must combine the information from the most recent seismic model with its own design and safety features to determine site-specific risks -- one that regulators will use in the licensing process.

The relevance here could not be more obvious. Last August, an earthquake registering 5.8 on the Richter scale struck the east coast. It caused two reactors located in Virginia to shut down for three months. No radiation escaped.

The overall context is the Japanese catastrophe in March 2011. In December, the country’s prime minister said that the nuclear operators there reached a “milestone” and had stabilized the damaged reactors from which radiation had leaked. Meantime, officials there said that never before had a nation had to deal with three ruined units and that the clean up would take 40 years.

In response to Japan’s woes, the NRC is recommending that the 104 reactors here get scrutinized every 10 years for seismic and flooding risks. And that includes routine inspections to ensure that the vulnerabilities of every plant are fully understood. Plants would furthermore be required to have licensed, back-up emergency equipment to ensure that the cooling pools containing fuel rods would continue to operate in the event of a power failure.

Is the NRC an effective watchdog? David Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists says that it can be but that its processes have shortcomings. NRC inspections, for example, only reveal a “fraction” of the problems that exist. Therefore, he says it is vital that the agency respond forcefully to those issues that it does uncover.

Nuclear operators have come a long way since the accidents that marked the industry in 1979 and 1986. Today, they understand community outreach and they publicize their ongoing efforts to improve their safety procedures. Whether or not the word has resonance after Japan’s misfortunes is unclear but the NRC’s latest pronouncements should bolster their case.

EnergyBiz Insider is the Winner of the 2011 Online Column category awarded by Media Industry News, MIN. Ken Silverstein has also been named one of the Top Economics Journalists by Wall Street Economists.

Follow Ken on  www.twitter.com/ken_silverstein

energybizinsider@energycentral.com