[ RadSafe ] RadSafe Digest, Vol 334, Issue 1

[THOMAS POTTER]

I have always thought INPO both necessary and insufficient, needing sound performance-based regulation by NRC as a complement. I've also been uneasy about the transluscency of INPO. Ugly things sometimes grow in the dark. And the Davis-Besse affair reminds us that complacency is an ongoing problem and there is always room for improvement.

Joseph V. Rees examines nuclear regulation since TMI in his book, Hostages of Each Other. He likes INPO. Excerpts are here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=tsHZEdFoJvcC&pg=PA211&lpg=PA211&dq=v.+lees+inpo&source=bl&ots=TF8vS9KaeI&sig=xv3T-Fx8aHZMylpVGs8TtGFbCfE&hl=en&ei=t0EiTOaiEsH58AaAkrmcDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

In light of the difficulty DOI is having obtaining a 6-mo moratorium on deep-water drilling, it is worth revisiting the fate of TMI Unit 1 after the TMI Unit 2 accident. It was out of service from the accident in 1979 until 1985, largely punitively, I believe.  It was sold in 1999 for about $30 million plus the value of the contained fuel. If I had known it would have gone for that, I would have formed a syndicate of investors (probably entirely 401-K's, given my financial connections, but that would have been sufficient) and bid on it. When asked why Unit 1 was sold, one official explained that it had a bad zip code.

Hope Bill "It's all about trust" Lipton is paying attention to the events in the gulf.  I continue to be convinced that it doesn't have much at all to do with trust. It's all about need.

Tom Potter




---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:33:09 -0600
>From: "Miller, Mark L" <mmiller at sandia.gov>
>Subject: [ RadSafe ] INPO model for Big Oil?
>To: "'radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu'" <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
>Message-ID:
>	<93829F68A9B95344A2E48D7BA8FE19C00F3F9FEB94 at ES01SNLNT.srn.sandia.gov>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>BP's Gulf Catastrophe is Big Oil's Three Mile Island:  Will They Learn from the
>Nuclear Industry how to Achieve Environmental Safety and Operational Surety?
>
>Following the tragic accident at Three Mile Island (TMI) Unit #2 in 1979, executives from all of the U.S utilities who operated nuclear power plants convened a meeting at which they resolved "Never Again".  

<snip>