Scientists question U.S. nuclear plant safet

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

For general interest:

Wednesday June 17 3:21 PM EDT 

By Tom Doggett 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The safe operation of the nation's 104 nuclear power 
reactors is at risk because of careless inspectors and frequent worker 
mistakes, according to a new study by the Union of Concerned Scientists. 

"Although we found some encouraging signs, it appears that safety conditions 
at nuclear plants across the country may be worse than we previously 
believed," said David Lochbaum, the UCS' nuclear safety expert and author of 
the report. 

The report's conclusions, released Wednesday, are based on the monitoring of 
10 plants from November 1996 to January 1998. 

The most serious finding in the report was that internal safety inspectors 
missed more than 200 problems that occurred at the plants last year. 

"Plant workers found some problems, inspectors from the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC) found others, and some became obvious when equipment 
broke down. But the internal auditors did not identify a single problem," the 
report said. 

The group also uncovered that a large number of plant problems were caused 
by human error (35 percent) and faulty procedures (44 percent). 

"If not for human mistakes and bad procedures, the Three Mile Island and 
Chernobyl disasters might have been prevented," said Lochbaum. "The nuclear 
industry is too old to be experiencing so many preventable safety problems," 
he added. 

The UCS is recommending that internal auditors and workers get additional 
safety training, and that the NRC improve its enforcement of federal safety 
regulations. 

In addition, the group said Congress should review whether NRC guidelines can 
ensure the public is adequately protected. 

"This congressional inquiry should happen now. It should not be deferred until 
after the next major reactor accident," the group said. 

A spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) defended the performance 
of the nation's nuclear power plants, adding that the safety problems mentioned 
in the report were not serious. 

"There's no question nuclear power plants are safe," said Steven Kerekes. He 
said the NEI supported the group's recommendation that Congress review the 
effectiveness of the NRC's rules and procedures. 

The plants monitored by the UCS were Indian Point located 24 miles north of 
New York City; Calvert Cliffs 40 miles south of Annapolis, Md.; the Cooper 
plant in Nebraska; the LaSalle plant in Illinois; and the Millstone complex near 
New London, Conn. 

The group also reviewed the Oconee plant 30 miles west of Greenville, S.C.; 
Oyster Creek in New Jersey; the River Bend plant 24 miles from Baton Rouge, 
La.; the TVA's Sequoyah plant near Chattanooga, Tenn.; and the Surry power 
plant 17 milesnorthwest of Newport News, Va.

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Sandy Perle
Technical Director
ICN Dosimetry Division
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Office: (800) 548-5100 x2306 
Fax:    (714) 668-3111
  
sandyfl@earthlink.net
sperle@icnpharm.com

ICN Dosimetry Website:
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Personal Website:
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