The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has a system for assessing the status of nuclear power reactors in the U.S. and deciding what action the Commission should take with respect to a particular reactor. It is called the Reactor Oversight Process Action Matrix. It has five column. The program draws information for reactor inspections and performance indications in order to make an objective assessment. The columns in the matrix from less to more serious are License Response Column, Regulatory Response Column, Degraded Cornerstone Column, Multiple/Repetitive Degraded Cornerstone Column, Unacceptable Performance Column. Any reactor that winds up in the fifth column must be shut down immediately.
The NRC also issues color coded reviews of their findings about particular incidents at nuclear power plants. The colors of the findings are green, white, yellow and red. A "green" finding means that "performance within an expected performance level in which the related cornerstone objectives are met." A "white" finding means that related cornerstone objectives are still being met with a minimal reduction in safety margin." A "yellow" finding means that "related cornerstone objectives are being met but with a moderate reduction in safety margin." A "red" finding means that there was a significant reduction in safety margin in the area measured by that performance indicator."
The NRC has just announced that it is going to send a team of twenty five inspectors to carry out a "Comprehensive Inspection" at the Arkansas Nuclear One nuclear power plant being operated Entergy Operations in Russellville, Arkansas. Currently, this is the only power plant in the U.S. that is in the fourth column of the Action Matrix indicating that there are very serious problems at that power plant. The NRC inspectors will spend thirty six hundred hours to conduct an independent assessment and document the adequacy of the Entergy programs to "identify, evaluate and correct performance issues at the plant" where Entergy operates two pressurized water reactors.
In March of 2013, there was an accident at the plant when a crane moving a one million pound generator collapsed. Eight workers were injured and one was killed. The collapse of the crane also tore open a water pipe which resulted in a four-month shutdown of both reactors. In August of 2013, both reactors were turned back on. It was estimated that the cost of the accident was around one hundred and twenty million dollars.
Subsequent inspections found a design flaw in the seals protecting safety equipment in the emergency diesel fuel storage building. In June of 2004, the NRC issued a yellow finding to ANO with regard to an incident involving the handling of heavy equipment. In January of 2015, the NRC issued another yellow finding related to flood protection adequacy at the plant. The crane collapse and the yellow findings together moved the plant from Column Three of the Action Matrix to Column Four.
The NRC will charge Entergy Operations two hundred and twenty five dollars per hour. It is estimated that the bill for NRC inspections at ANO this year will cost about two million three hundred thousand dollars.
Arkansas Nuclear One:
