WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The safe operation of the nation's 104 nuclear power reactors is at risk because of careless inspectors and frequent worker mistakes, according to a new study by the Union of Concerned Scientists."Although we found some encouraging signs, it appears that safety conditions at nuclear plants across the country may be worse than we previously believed," said David Lochbaum, the UCS' nuclear safety expert and author of the report.
The report's conclusions, released Wednesday, are based on the monitoring of 10 plants from November 1996 to January 1998.
The most serious finding in the report was that internal safety inspectors missed more than 200 problems that occurred at the plants last year.
"Plant workers found some problems, inspectors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) found others, and some became obvious when equipment broke down. But the internal auditors did not identify a single problem," the report said.
The group also uncovered that a large number of plant problems were caused by human error (35 percent) and faulty procedures (44 percent).
"If not for human mistakes and bad procedures, the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl disasters might have been prevented," said Lochbaum. "The nuclear industry is too old to be experiencing so many preventable safety problems," he added.
The UCS is recommending that internal auditors and workers get additional safety training, and that the NRC improve its enforcement of federal safety regulations.
In addition, the group said Congress should review whether NRC guidelines can ensure the public is adequately protected.
"This congressional inquiry should happen now. It should not be deferred until after the next major reactor accident," the group said.
A spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) defended the performance of the nation's nuclear power plants, adding that the safety problems mentioned in the report were not serious.
"There's no question nuclear power plants are safe," said Steven Kerekes. He said the NEI supported the group's recommendation that Congress review the effectiveness of the NRC's rules and procedures.
The plants monitored by the UCS were Indian Point located 24 miles north of New York City; Calvert Cliffs 40 miles south of Annapolis, Md.; the Cooper plant in Nebraska; the LaSalle plant in Illinois; and the Millstone complex near New London, Conn.
The group also reviewed the Oconee plant 30 miles west of Greenville, S.C.; Oyster Creek in New Jersey; the River Bend plant 24 miles from Baton Rouge, La.; the TVA's Sequoyah plant near Chattanooga, Tenn.; and the Surry power plant 17 milesnorthwest of Newport News, Va.
Comments on this posting?
Click here to post a public comment on the Trash Talk Bulletin Board.
Click here to send a private comment to the Junkman.
Material presented on this home page constitutes opinion of the author.
Copyright © 1998 Steven J. Milloy. All rights reserved on original material. Material copyrighted by others is used either with permission or under a claim of "fair use." Site developed and hosted by WestLake Solutions, Inc.