Every year the International Atomic Energy Agency surveys nuclear facilities of member nations around the world and issues a report on the status of global nuclear safety. The IAEA report for 2012 has just been issued. While generally positive, the report does admit that a lot of the nuclear reactors in the world are aging and nearing the end of their operational lifespans.
Since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011, many IAEA member states have undertaken their own reviews of their nuclear reactors and other nuclear facilities. Some nations have instituted stress tests of their reactors to see if they are ready to withstand accidents and natural disasters. One result of this global concern has been the drafting of new more stringent national regulations for nuclear power plants. The IAEA report states that operational safety at most of the world’s operational power plants remains high as evidenced by the high level of performance indicators in the data collected from member nations.
There are currently four hundred and thirty two operational civilian nuclear power reactors in the world with another sixty eight under construction. Twenty two of the existing reactors have been in operation for over forty years. Most of them were originally licensed to operate for forty years. Many of them are showing serious signs of wear. One hundred and sixty two of the civilian reactors have been in operation for over thirty years and are nearing the end of their intended lifespans.
It is generally understood that the older plants should be brought up to the standards of reactors currently being constructed. This is an expensive proposition and, in some recent cases, it has been decided by the owners of reactors that the cost of retrofitting the aging reactors is simply too expensive to warrant the investment.
One of the big problems with retrofitting old plants is the difficulty of finding parts. Many of the parts needed are not being manufactured any more. Unless old parts are replaced with identical parts, a whole new review and certification process is triggered adding to the cost. Some companies have been caught lying about the new parts that they are installing. In one case in Korea, new parts were being given the certification numbers of existing installed parts so that certification could be avoided.
It is reassuring that the IAEA has found that nuclear safety has been improving around the world. However, shoddy construction, lax maintenance, false documentation, poor training, and insufficient oversight among other problems continue to be reported at reactors around the world. Despite the optimism of the IAEA, there are still many reactors that are at risk. In the United States alone, twenty five out of the one hundred civilian power reactors are downstream from dams and are at serious risk of flooding if the dams break for any reason. The U.S. NRC is working on the problem but it is far from solved. Global nuclear safety may have improved but it still needs further improvement to prevent another Fukushima.
