Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant Fire Violations –

Too Dangerous to Allow Endless Delay

 

A FACT SHEET BY NC WARN

 

The Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant has increased its risk of a radiation disaster by violating federal fire safety regulations for 14 years – after promising for years to correct all vulnerabilities.

 

1.  Fire is a leading risk factor for meltdown at US nuclear plants (according to federal studies)

• Fire or electrical shorts can cause operators to lose control of the reactor or safety systems.
• Harris has a large number of faulty fire barriers and inadequate distance between vital electric cables.
• Fire could cause overheating of the reactor fuel and a major release of radioactivity. 

 

2.  Harris is relying on “compensatory” measures that were rejected by NRC last year.

• The foremost “compensatory” measures require operators to quickly enter the plant and perform scores of complex procedures required to manually operate safety systems during emergencies.
• Harris also “compensates” with fire patrols intended to be used only for weeks, not years.

 

3.  Those compensatory measures have never been approved – or tested for reliability.

• The nuclear industry is now fighting NRC over how to test the operator manual actions: more delay.

 

4.  Harris fire violations are heightened by a new ruling on plant security.

• The NRC ruled in January that instead of defending against aircraft or more than a handful of ground attackers, US nuclear plant owners can rely on measures that control fires and explosions.
• Numerous federal studies show that “allegedly robust nuclear plant structures are extremely vulnerable to fires from within,” (Lochbaum 2/1/07) and that fires fed by thousands of gallons of jet fuel could lead to catastrophic releases.  Some of the studies indicate a high likelihood of meltdown.

 

5.  Serious Fires have occurred at Harris and other plants.

• There have been six “emergency declared” alerts at US plants since October due to electrical fires.
• A major electrical fire at Harris in 1989 required 30 firefighters and led to a weeks-long plant outage.
• A 1975 severe fire and near-meltdown at Browns Ferry led to the rules that Harris is now disobeying.

 

6.  The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is allowing Harris to violate fire regulations under the

       agency’s “Enforcement Discretion” authority.

• NRC plans to let Progress Energy study fire vulnerabilities for many more years.
• NRC plans to extend Enforcement Discretion until March 2009, an abuse of NRC’s authority.

 

“Shearon Harris is not safe today.  A fire tomorrow could be like a nuclear Katrina:

People in North Carolina would pay a high price, but the rest of the U.S. might benefit if  Congress makes NRC finally enforce its own fire protection rules.”    David Lochbaum, Nuclear Safety Engineer: Union of Concerned Scientists

 

Progress Energy has repeatedly misled public officials and media about its fire protection status:

 

• NC WARN, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the Nuclear Information & Resource Service are calling for NRC to suspend Harris’ license or assess heavy fines until all fire violations are corrected.

 

• Progress officials have stated many times that “Shearon Harris is in full compliance.”   

 

• When challenged, Progress alters the claim, saying Harris uses “compensatory measures” (instead of regulatory compliance, as explained above).   

 

• An NC WARN letter to Progress CEO Robert McGehee (9/26/06) cited four recent documents where Progress promised NRC to “restore compliance” with fire regulations. 
   
• Progress claims NRC changed its fire regulations, implying that Harris was inconvenienced and is struggling to catch up.
   
• In fact, after years of pressuring NRC to relax fire regulations, Progress voluntarily chose to attempt compliance with a new, optional form of regulation, which allows years to study the problem.

 

• While NRC’s management and PR team protect Progress, NRC fire engineers confirm Harris is in violation (NRC transcript 11-13-06), and said during an October 2005 meeting:  “Our concern is that your plant might not be safe.”

 

Progress Energy claims it is upgrading Harris fire protections and will comply with regulations in 4-8 years.  Meanwhile, Harris is currently seeking NRC approval to extend its operating license until 2046, and NRC apparently intends to grant the extension before Harris complies with fire regulations.   Progress Energy should rearrange its business priorities, and restore the physical protections required by law to lower the risks associated with fire.  The open-ended delay must stop.

 

 

“Since the NRC and industry can’t agree on how to test whether operators could run through

the plant and manually operate multiple safety systems to prevent a meltdown, how can the
             public bank on those measures as an acceptable substitute for compliance?”                                                                                                       Paul Gunter, Nuclear Information & Resource Service

 

 

See the “Delaying With Fire” report and related documents for details and references at www.ncwarn.org

 

 

rev May 2007