Energy Watch: Nuclear safety advocates blast feds' inaction on fire risk

Warning that "deliberate bureaucratic negligence" is putting millions of Americans at risk of disaster, safety watchdogs are calling on Congress to demand that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission enforce fire protection regulations at the nation's commercial nuclear power plants -- or else begin suspending plants' operating licenses.

The Union of Concerned Scientists, Beyond Nuclear and N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network recently sent a letter [pdf] to U.S. Rep. David Price (D-N.C.), chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, and other members of Congress, writing:

The only thing more tragic than a nuclear power reactor fire killing Americans is the plain and simple fact that those lives could have been saved had only the NRC bothered to enforce its fire protection regulations. That reality will be salt in the wounds of survivors whose loved ones were lost because their government let them down. Their government knew about fire hazards at nuclear reactors in the 1970s, developed steps to responsibly manage those risks in the 1980s, and then irresponsibly failed to implement those steps.

Fire hazards represent a greater risk of a nuclear reactor meltdown than all other causes combined. Following a near-disastrous 1975 fire at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Alabama, the NRC adopted stringent fire protection regulations in 1980. But this past July, NRC Commissioner Gregory Jaczko admitted publicly that he didn't know of one nuke plant in full compliance.

The watchdog groups also sent Price and his colleagues "Fire When NOT Ready" [pdf], their new report on fire risk in the U.S. commercial nuclear power industry. It singles out for special scrutiny Progress Energy's Shearon Harris nuclear plant near Raleigh, N.C., where safety advocates have long raised concerns about unacceptable fire risk and regulatory inaction:

In 2004, the NRC revised its regulations to establish an alternate means of achieving adequate protection against fire hazards. Harris' owner informed the NRC in 2005 that it would transition to the alternative fire protection regulations and requested discretion from sanctions for any violations identified during the transition. The NRC granted a 3-year enforcement discretion period, to 2008. When progress towards the alternative regulations lagged, the agency extended enforcement discretion for three more years. In September 2008, the NRC informed Harris' owner that its work toward the alternative regulations fell far short of the NRC's acceptance criteria, but the agency would accept it anyway. It's a recurring pattern of Harris' owner not meeting its obligations and the NRC tolerating it.

Earlier this year, a Government Accountability Office report also documented problems with enforcement of nuclear fire safety regulations, as did one from the NRC's Inspector General. But the NRC still has not acted to fix the problem.

Harris is one of 10 U.S. nuclear power plants relying on a fire protection barrier called Hemyc, which failed in lab tests when exposed to extreme heat. Harris uses more Hemyc than any other U.S. nuclear power plant, and Progress also uses the material in its H.B. Robinson Plant near Hartsville, S.C.

Other nuclear plants using Hemyc include North Carolina-based Duke Energy's Catawba facility near York, S.C. and McGuire near Charlotte; Louisiana-based Entergy's Arkansas Nuclear plant in Russellville, Ark. and its Waterford plant in St. Charles Parish, La.; Dallas-based Energy Future's Comanche Peak plant southwest of Fort Worth, Texas; and Florida Power & Light's St. Lucie plant near Fort Pierce, Fla.

For Harris, the issue of fire safety is not merely academic: The plant, which houses one of the nation's largest on-site stockpiles of spent nuclear fuel, has experienced at least four fires since it began operating in 1987. One 1988 blaze that started in an electrical cable took two local fire departments and an on-site fire brigade three hours to quell.

In response to the watchdogs' report as well as recent mishaps at nuclear plants in his home state, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) announced that he'll launch his own investigation of nuclear safety concerns as chair of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee.

"We must make sure proper oversight on these facilities is being performed in order to protect our environment and our health," Kucinich said. "I have instructed my staff to investigate the safety issues associated with the operation of nuclear power plants because the dangers to the environment and economy are too great to ignore."

(Photo of Progress Energy's Shearon Harris nuclear power plant from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission)