THE STORY SO FARThe Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Spring City, Tenn., was given a “white” safety finding by NRC inspectors in September for an equipment problem associated with the nuclear security division at the plant, not with the plant’s operation.Last summer, Sequoyah Nuclear Plant in Soddy-Daisy also received a white flag for having four unplanned shutdowns in less than a year. The plant has since had a fifth unplanned scram.Last year, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant near Athens, Ala., was placed under a red finding — NRC’s highest safety concern flag — after NRC and TVA determined the plant may have operated for more than a year with a inoperable cooling system valve.Source: NRC and TVA
Many of last year’s nuclear “near misses” at U.S. reactors happened because plant owners — and often their federal regulators — tolerated known problems and failed to address them adequately, according to a report released Tuesday by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“All NRC needs to do to protect the public is enforce its own requirements,” said Dave Lochbaum, director of the group’s Nuclear Safety Project and author of a report on nuclear plant safety billed as “Living on Borrowed Time.”
“Willy nilly should be a cartoon character, not NRC [actions],” he said.
Although the report of nuclear “near misses” last year did not include any Tennessee Valley Authority reactors, the report’s author still said TVA is “always a best bet for any year’s report on near misses.”