2/25/2013 BOARD OF SELECTMEN Minutes

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_ 0 NRC station blackouts should include provi- sions for: • Monitoring the condition of the inflatable seals that make the pool gates watertight ...,s;. — - A. — -' - • Restoring power in a timely manner — to the pool's cooling system and the , I system providing air to the inflatable 1 seals.This could be done,for example, i ? by connecting these systems to the _ emergency diesel generators or by providing temporary generators. • Monitoring pool temperature and �—� IFr': • ` ' T water level �� ,.•,. ��: Making Existing Reactors Safer • .. R Although existing reactors are designed to withstand design-basis accidents,many are vulnerable to such accidents because ' they do not comply with certain impor- tant safety regulations. While reactor owners can be faulted for this shortsightedtP€ behavior, the NRC is too tolerant of known safety violations. Owners also A serious fire at Alabama's Browns Ferry nuclear plant spurred the NRC to issue fire protection need to do a better job of identifying regulations in 1980(and again in 2004),but more than three dozen reactors still do not comply. safety problems before they occur— including the degradation of aging equip- 40 U.S. reactors announced their in- ment,which will become more problem- Because a fire can tention to comply with the NFPA 805 atic as the NRC extends reactor licenses. option, but more than three dozen reac- In addition,safety problems can arise destroy a reactor's main tors still do not comply with either set of when reactors use certain types of fuel: regulations, and their owners have made "high burn-up"fuel and plutonium-based and backup emergency no firm commitments to address this fire mixed-oxide fuel.The former is more vul- systems, it is one of the risk anytime soon." Moreover, in June nerable to damage during some types of 2011, four of the five NRC commis- design-basis accidents, and the latter in- most Ilkely Ways In which sioners voted to extend the deadline for creases the risk of some types of severe a reactor core can be compliance until 2016. accidents as well as the risk to public The NFPA 805 option is based on health from such accidents. seriously damaged, a probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) of resulting in a release various fire hazards and associated pro- 7. The NRC should enforce its fire tection measures. As we discuss in re- protection regulations and compel the of radioactivity. commendation 22, however, there are owners of more than three dozen significant flaws in the NRC's PRAs, so reactors to comply with regulations reactor owners should not be allowed to they currently violate. choose the NFPA 805 option until the Because a fire can destroy a nuclear plant's later, the agency discovered that dozens agency has corrected those flaws. main and backup emergency systems, it of reactors failed to meet those regulations is one of the most likely ways in which a and were therefore being operated with 8. 7be NRC should establish timeliness reactor core can be seriously damaged, undue risk of serious damage from fires. goals for resolving safety issues while con- resulting in a release of radioactivity.Fol- The NRC developed an alternative set of tinning to meet its timeliness goals for lowing a fire at the Browns Ferry nuclear fire protection regulations in 2004—the business-related requests from reactor plant in Alabama, the NRC issued regu- "NFPA 805 option"—and required plant owners. lations in 1980 intended to reduce the owners to comply with either these or the In addition to overseeing the safety and fire hazard at all reactors. Twenty years 1980 regulations. The owners of nearly security of U.S. reactors, the NRC is U.S. NUCLEAR POWER AFTER FUKUSHIMA 7