NC WARN: Waste Awareness & Reduction Network
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Contact: Jim Warren
Nuclear Regulators Confirm Shearon Harris Fire Violations
But NRC Proposes Years More “Enforcement Discretion” Despite Leading Meltdown Risk
DURHAM, NC – Public interest groups filed a sharp rebuttal yesterday to a proposed ruling by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission that would allow the Shearon Harris plant to operate many more years without fixing critical fire protection systems. The groups say that in NRC’s written response to a legal challenge filed last fall, the agency confirmed that Harris plant owner Progress Energy has broken promises for over ten years to correct the fire violations.
NC WARN, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Nuclear Information & Resource Service emphasized today that they will continue pressing their legal case and are seeking congressional help to require NRC to stand up to the nuclear industry and enforce safety regulations. The agency’s draft ruling also confirms that Progress falsely told NRC several times that the fire problems had been corrected.
As NC WARN attorney John Runkle wrote in the motion, “The NRC clearly has authority for action ‘if the violation is willful’… and in this matter, Progress Energy has repeatedly and willfully violated the regulations, and at the same time, has made false and misleading statements to the NRC that it had or would correct the problems. As such, the NRC staff has been derelict in its duty to require the licensee to operate in a safe manner.”
The watchdog groups are contesting the NRC’s open‑ended, informal “enforcement discretion” that enables Harris to not comply with federal safety regulations year after year. Instead of forcing Harris to correct physical vulnerabilities, NRC has allowed the plant to substitute unapproved “compensatory measures” that would do little to protect plant workers and the public when the safe shutdown of the plant is required in emergency situations. In its proposed ruling, the agency admits that “the NRC staff agrees that compensatory measures are not a substitute for demonstrating permanent compliance …”
“This is the same agency that has allowed Harris to remain in violation, so it’s no surprise NRC staff would rule for Progress Energy,” stated Margie Ellison, Organizing Director for NC WARN. But she added, “Fire is a top factor – and a real risk -- for a reactor meltdown, and the public demands accountability by this corporate utility and the federal government.” At least six electrical fire emergencies have been declared at US plants since October.
Six local governments have expressed concern that Shearon Harris should comply with all safety regulations in the short term. News reports quote Progress saying NRC will allow them until 2015, but that Harris expects to better that date. Under increasing public pressure, Progress recently said it expects to correct all problems in late 2010. Meanwhile, NRC admits that it is not conducting fire inspections in areas that are in noncompliance.
But nuclear engineer David Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists notes, “At no place in the record or in the Proposed Director’s Decision has the NRC given a date certain by which Shearon Harris must comply with the fire regulations.” He said that while NRC states that “corrective actions should be completed for missing or degraded fire barriers as required by regulations,” and that “the licensee has initiated corrective actions,” many of those corrections were begun years ago but have not been completed. “Why should the public accept any more promises and delay from Progress and NRC?” The petitioners argue that Harris should correct all violations during this fall’s refueling outage.
The watchdogs today denounced false statements made in January by NRC Chairman Dale Klein – and repeated in the NRC’s proposed ruling on Harris even after being exposed as untrue – about required defenses against attacks. NRC claims that studies show nuclear power plants “provide adequate protection in a hypothetical attack by an airplane,” but numerous federal studies exposed by Lochbaum show that “allegedly robust nuclear plant structures are extremely vulnerable to fires from within,” 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.
NC WARN, a Durham-based nonprofit, last week called on
Progress
Margie Ellison added that NRC and Progress plan to speed
through a major license amendment in 20 months or so – before correcting fire
safety problems – while it takes two decades to enforce critical safety
regulations. “
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See the Motion by NC WARN, UCS, NIRS: http://www.ncwarn.org/fire%20response.htm
NC WARN is a grassroots non-profit using science and activism to tackle climate change and reduce hazards to public health and the environment from nuclear power and other polluting electricity production, and working for a transition to safe, economical energy in North Carolina.
NC WARN
North Carolina Waste Awareness & Reduction Network
Ph: 919-416-5077 Fax: 919-286-3985
PO Box 61051, Durham, NC 27715-1051
Email: Jim@ncwarn.org Web: www.ncwarn.org