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Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
Allison Macfarlane is a former chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She said that the history of nuclear regulation in the U.S. shows the great importance of having highly trained staff committed to ensuring system safety around the clock. She added, “You want nuclear plant operators to be at their best — not tired, not distracted. If they are worried about their families, or in Chernobyl’s case, not allowed to leave and reduced to eating dried porridge and canned food, they may miss things and make mistakes.”
Over the years, the NRC inspection and investigation reports have mentioned a limited number of examples of operator mistakes that jeopardized or undermined operation of safety systems that could be called on in emergencies. While the NRC found that nearly all of the ninety-three operating U.S. reactors met commission safety and security requirements in 2021, two did not. The findings were based on thousands of inspection hours by the NRC.
The two nuclear power plants that failed to meet NRC requirements were Callaway in Missouri and Davis-Besse in Ohio. They were cited for “low safety significance” but the NRC said that their performance called for special inspections to assure that corrective actions are taken to prevent recurrence. Macfarlane currently directs the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. She said, “These plants are really complex. Safety culture [at U.S. nuclear plants] is regulated because we’ve deemed it really important.” She went on to say that the NRC policy requires not only adherence to rules and regulations but also management’s care to instill a commitment to safety. She added that “If you don’t have it, you will potentially have issues that could lead to major problems, a major accident.”
NRC case files report incidents like one in 2008 when two divers cleaning sludge from an underwater opening to water pumps at the Nine Mile Point plant in upstate New York lost control of a suction hose. This allowed it to be sucked into a pump which was fouled. The NRC said that there was no threat to operations. However, the NRC found “significant weaknesses” in the operator’s response to the incident.
The operators failed to require a rigorous planning process even though the underwater clearing operation had never been done before. Contrary to expected best practice, the divers did not immediately halt work when the incident occurred.
A senior official of the then-plant owner, Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, admitted to the NRC officials, “[We] had missed some things we shouldn’t have missed. … We had tunnel vision to some degree. The fact we didn’t go into is why the event occurred.”
Edwin Lyman is the director of nuclear power safety with the Union of Concerned Scientists. He emphasized in a recent blog post that maintaining the integrity of the water pumps and other vital safety systems is essential to reactor safety and security. Lyman said that is a reactor cooling system fails, nuclear fuel rods can begin releasing radiation within hours.
Lyman said, “There are a number of events that could trigger a worst-case scenario involving a reactor core or spent fuel pool located in a war zone.” These include an accidental of intentional strike that could directly damage reactors. He added that,”extended loss of power that interrupted cooling system operations that personnel could not contain has the potential to cause a Fukushima-like disaster.”
Yesterday, Ukraine made a long-planned move to cut connection to the Russian electrical grid. They then connected to the continental European grid via Moldavia.
Kadri Simson is the European Union energy commissioner. She said that “This will help Ukraine to keep their electricity system stable, homes warm and lights on during these dark times,” Kadri Simson, the European Union energy commissioner, said in a statement. “It is also a historic milestone for the EU-Ukraine relationship — in this area, Ukraine is now part of Europe.”