The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is charged with the monitoring and regulation of the nuclear industry in the United States. The NRC has been criticized repeatedly for being too cozy with the industry that they are supposed to regulate. Recently, it was revealed that officials at the NRC conspired with Pacific Gas and Electric to change the way that earthquake risk was assessed at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant on the California coast. Because the NRC allowed the rule change, the Diablo Canyon plant did not have to be upgraded by PG&E. A government watchdog agency called the General Accountability Office has been reviewing NRC procedures and has made its criticism of the NRC public.
In 2011, the GAO says that the "The Nuclear Regulatory Commission cannot guarantee that underground safety-related pipes can remain structurally sound under its current regulations and standards." In the face of claims to the contrary by the NRC, the GAO said "...pressure and flow tests that the NRC currently requires do not provide information about the structural integrity of an underground pipe (and) do not indicate the presence of degradation in a pipe that could hinder its future performance." One of the big problems with monitoring the integrity of the pipes is the fact that currently there is no way to measure the thickness of a pipe wall other than to excavate the pipe. Leaks of tritiated (heavy water) from nuclear power plants around the U.S. prompted the GAO review.
"The occurrence of leaks at nuclear power plants from underground piping systems is expected to continue as nuclear power plants and their piping systems corrode," stated the GAO report. "While reported underground piping system leaks to date have not posed discernible health impacts to the public, there is no guarantee that future leaks' impacts will be the same."
Now, in late 2014, the GAO is criticizing NRC practices once again. This time the problem is the way that the NRC carries out cost-benefit analysis. The GAO says that the NRC only used one of four specific characteristics that the GAO recommends. The GAO says that "While the overall NRC procedures incorporate some best practices for each of the four characteristics, we found the NRC's cost estimating procedures satisfied only one characteristic,” said the watchdog's report that was released Monday by Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Sen. David Vitter, R-La.
This time, the problem that led to the GAO review was concerns of Republican Congressmen that the NRC failed to properly analyze an NRC rule that requires nuclear power plants to use filtered venting systems. The NRC response to the GAO review was to admit that the NRC could improve the way it handled cost-benefit analysis but that it did not necessarily endorse the best-practices recommended by the GAO. The NRC needs to review and improve many more of its practices than just cost-benefit analysis.
