ML11325A311

Comment (55) of Chandra Radiance on Draft Supplement 47 to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants and Public Meetings for the Licenses Renewal of Columbia Generating Station

ML11325A311
Person / Time
Site:	Columbia
Issue date:	11/15/2011
From:	Radiance C - No Known Affiliation
To:	Rulemaking, Directives, and Editing Branch
References
76FR54502 00055, NRC-2010-0029
Download: ML11325A311 (33)

Text

D 1 -F 1)S _ -, As of: November 16, 2011 Received:

November 15, 2011 PUBLIC SUBMISSION

@Status: PendingPost Tracking No. 80f6cf05 Comments Due: November 16, 2011 Submission Type: Web Docket: NRC-2010-0029 Notice of Receipt and Availability of Application for Renewal of Columbia Generating Station Facility Operating License Comment On: NRC-2010-0029-0015 Energy Northwest, Columbia Generating Station; Notice of Availability of Draft Supplement 47 to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants and Public Meetings for the License Renewal of Columbia Generating Station Document:

NRC-2010-0029-DRAFT-0067 Comment on FR Doc # 2011-22415 UJj. Submitter Information 79 Name: Chandra Radiance -.: Address: 3226 Dee Hwy .-Hood River, OR, 97031 General Comment o, Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation's aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. Time after time, officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, according to records and interviews.

Associated Press has recently completed a year-long investigation into the nuclear power industry in the United States, with some disturbing results. The AP's four-part series is attached so you can read why I am so pissed off that the NRC is lower the bar of safety standards and rubber-stamping the re-licensing of these relic nuclear plants! Nuclear Power plants were never built to last over 40 years and as they age, the probability of accidents increases exponentially, especially with the ever increasing unpredictability of the earth shifting in ways out of human control. There is great evidence that NRC has relaxed the standards for safety as well as not strictly enforced compliance issues if it meant it cost too much. Even if they were enforcing the standards of safety and not constantly lowering the bar on 'safe standards' of radiation releases.

There is no way to safeguard all life from such guaranteed accidents, especially since the NRC is in cahoots with the corporate nuclear industry (i.e. paid off and govt. lobbyists are totally ignorant of the trio dangers because they are bought off politicians).

Now there is all this political pressure for nuclear power being touted as 'clean & green' energy which is an absolute LIE! There has never been any SAFE level of internal radiation, it all causes genetic defects and cancer in all lifeforms, not just humans! Why do they get to'play GOD' allowing them the power gamble everything valuable on earth for a quick buck?SuS// dseu ignefde4-E-R1s05- 4bu-093 https :Hfdms.erulemaking.net/fdms-web-agency/component/contentstreamer?obj ectId=090000648Of6cf'O...

11/16/2011 Page 2 of 2 Attachments Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds -OC Watchdog _ The Orange County Register Quakes pose greater risk to U.S. nuclear reactors -OC Watchdog _ The Orange County Register Hanford relicense DOE Feds have never said no to nuclear plant relicensing

-OC Watchdog _ The Orange County Register httpsH//fdms.erulemaking.net/fdms-web-agency/component/contentstreamer?objectld=090000648Of6cfO...

11/16/2011 Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds -OC Watchdog The Orange County Register Page 1 of 15" REAL ESTATE" JO.B.S" CARS." DEALS" CLASSIFIEDS

• PLACE AN AD" SUBSCRIBE"

.CUSTOMER SERVICE" TODAY'S PAPERZ Orange Countiy-egister" S...URF. REPORT.T /CAM_ S__* 66.0'F in Santa Ana I ILIVE TRAFFIC* HOME* NEWS*

• BUSINESS* ENTERTAINfM.ENT

• LIFE* TRAVEL* OPINION Latest Headlines on OCRegister.com

[x] Close" NEWS o Man accused of using Craigslist for tcen sex 49 minutes ago o O.C. October median home rice hits 9-year low 2 hours2.314815e-5 days <br />5.555556e-4 hours <br />3.306878e-6 weeks <br />7.61e-7 months <br /> & 3 minutes ago o Calif. legal reform advocate cites O.C. lawsuits 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> & 59 minutes ago o Lanes cleared after pickup upends on 1-5 57 minutes ago* SPORTS o O.C. football:

Final Too 1.0 of the reglar seson 37 minutes ago o Barkley: What if he stays at USC? 22 minutes ago o Verlander wins AL Cy YoQung Award 23 minutes ago o Ducks'traveloue_:ChC pter One (pjh_otos) 28 minutes ago* BUSINESS o State jobs... won't return to 5.years 2 hours2.314815e-5 days <br />5.555556e-4 hours <br />3.306878e-6 weeks <br />7.61e-7 months <br /> & 1 minute ago o .'alif. legal advocate cites O.C. lawsuits 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> & 59 minutes ago o Really? Home prices to drop 8% more'?o Iyour ZIP I of 54 with falling honme~prices 14 minutes ago" ENTERTAINMENT o New albums: Bocelli, R.E.M.. Drake 'Glee' and more 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> & 45 minutes ago o Celebrity baby names: From the awesome to the ridiculous o 'Must See O.C.': How many have you visited?o Afte rWo._rk;.

W.in._e .Gallery in.Cr.on11 a de.l.... M.ar" LIFE file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\tempsessions\2689968419177371190\...

11/15/2011 Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 2 of 15 o Madonna's new face -minus 23 years o Americans .are...b~uyiljgore.xpensive win a .ag~n 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> & 48 minutes ago o Art show for S.rfrider in Saon Ciemote o Not a deal: Earmuffs on sale for $27 38 minutes ago" TRAVEL o New airport terminal is just big enough 34 minutes ago o Baggage woes hit new JWA terminal o JWA to offer-M.exico-flights o Readers.hoping for JWAfights t..M.xico" OPINION Today's cartoons:

The real 99 percent 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> & 27 minutes ago o Morning letters: Santa Ana immigration report questioned o Reader Rebuttal_(Mike Levin): Cap-and-trade 32 minutes ago o Thomas Sowell: Will Republicans blow it?" Newsletter

• RSS* Mobile_* Facebook* Twitter Bloogs I California Cit y-CitNexv~s I .Qounms Crime IdCourts _Data-Central I Education I Immgrtaion I Nation I Obituaries I OC Watchdog I Photos I Politics and Government I Science I Technoloty Videos I World F OC Watchdog -Your tax dollars at work <. Pr[ev.uviosu.s Po..st Next Post >)Military_

I All Posts Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds June 22nd, 2011, 11:27 am *posted by staff writer Tweet This photo made available by the Nuclear file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\tempsessions\2689968419177371190\...

11/15/2011 Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 3 of 15 Regulatory Commission shows a 10-gallon-per-minute leak which sprung Oct. 19, 2007, in rusted piping that carried essential service water at the Byron nuclear plant in Illinois.

The water is needed to cool the reactor in an emergency.

The plant was immediately taken offline for repairs. Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation's aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. Time after time, officials at the U.S.Nuclear Regulatory Commission have decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, according to records and interviews. (AP Photo/Nuclear Regulatory Commission)

Our colleagues at the Associated Press have completed a year-long investigation into the nuclear power industry in the United States, with some disturbing results.We'll be posting AP's four-part series here. There are a lot of stories, but it's an important discussion to have, so bear with us.The Nuclear Regulatory Commission

-the federal agency charged with regulating the nuclear industry -and the industry itself strongly dispute the AP's conclusions.

You can read their responses here.(A new poll shows support for construction of new nuclear plants dropping, although a majority believe California's existing pla nts are sae.)So now, without further ado: AGING NUKES, PART 1 By JEFF DONN The Associated Press LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) -Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation's aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found.Time after time, officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, according to records and interviews.

The result? Rising fears that these accommodations by the NRC are significantly undermining safety -and inching the reactors closer to an accident that could harm the public and jeopardize the future of nuclear power in the United States.Examples abound. When valves leaked, more leakage was allowed -up to 20 times the original limit. When rampant cracking caused radioactive leaks from steam generator tubing, an easier test of the tubes was devised, so plants could meet standards.

Failed cables. Busted seals. Broken nozzles, clogged screens, cracked concrete, dented containers, corroded metals and rusty file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\tempsessions\2689968419177371190\...

11/15/2011 Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 4 of 15 underground pipes -all of these and thousands of other problems linked to aging were uncovered in the AP's yearlong investigation.

And all of them could escalate dangers in the event of an accident.This March 16, 2011 photo shows steam rising from cooling towers at Exelon Corp.'s nuclear plant in Byron, I11. Illinois has six nuclear plants, with a total of 11 reactors, more than any other state in the U.S. in 2010. Exelon, which has acknowledged violating Illinois state groundwater standards, agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle state and county complaints over the tritium leaks in Illinois' Braidwood, Dresden and Byron sites. The NRC also sanctioned Exelon. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)Yet despite the many problems linked to aging, not a single official body in government or industry has studied the overall frequency and potential impact on safety of such breakdowns in recent years, even as the NRC has extended the licenses of dozens of reactors.Industry and government officials defend their actions, and insist that no chances are being taken. But the AP investigation found that with billions of dollars and 19 percent of America's electricity supply at stake, a cozy relationship prevails between the industry and its regulator, the NRC.Records show a recurring pattern: Reactor parts or systems fall out of compliance with the rules. Studies are conducted by the industry and government, and all agree that existing standards are "unnecessarily conservative." Regulations are loosened, and the reactors are back in compliance."That's what they say for everything, whether that's the case or not," said Demetrios Basdekas, an engineer retired from the NRC. "Every time you turn around, they say 'We have all this built-in conservatism."'

The ongoing crisis at the stricken, decades-old Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear facility in Japan has focused attention on the safety of plants elsewhere in the world; it prompted the NRC to look at U.S. reactors, and a report is due in July.But the factor of aging goes far beyond the issues posed by the disaster at Fukushima.

Commercial nuclear reactors in the United States were designed and licensed for 40 years. When the first ones were being built in the 1960s and 1970s, it was expected that they would be replaced with improved models long before those licenses expired.file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\tempsessions\2689968419177371190\...

11/15/2011 Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 5 of 15 But that never happened.

The 1979 accident at Three Mile Island, massive cost overruns, crushing debt and high interest rates ended new construction proposals for several decades.Instead, 66 of the 104 operating units have been relicensed for 20 more years, mostly with scant public attention.

Renewal applications are under review for 16 other reactors.By the standards in place when they were built, these reactors are old and getting older. As of today, 82 reactors are more than 25 years old.The AP found proof that aging reactors have been allowed to run less safely to prolong operations.

As equipment has approached or violated safety limits, regulators and reactor operators have loosened or bent the rules.Last year, the NRC weakened the safety margin for acceptable radiation damage to reactor vessels -for a second time. The standard is based on a measurement known as a reactor vessel's "reference temperature," which predicts when it will become dangerously brittle and vulnerable to failure. Over the years, many plants have violated or come close to violating the standard.As a result, the minimum standard was relaxed first by raising the reference temperature 50 percent, and then 78 percent above the original -even though a broken vessel could spill its radioactive contents into the environment."We've seen the pattern," said nuclear safety scientist Dana Powers, who works for Sandia National Laboratories and also sits on an NRC advisory committee. "They're ... trying to get more and more out of these plants." This June 14, 2007, photo made available by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission shows some of the extensive rust that accumulated on piping carrying essential service water at the Byron nuclear plant in Illinois.

The water is needed to cool the reactor in an emergency.

A leak in the system forced the plant to go offline for repairs later that year. (AP Photo/Nuclear Regulatory Commission)

SHARPENING THE PENCIL The AP collected and analyzed government and industry documents

-including some never-before released.

The examination looked at both types of reactor designs: pressurized water units that keep radioactivity confined to the reactor building and the less common boiling water types like those at Fukushima, which send radioactive water away from the reactor to drive electricity-generating turbines.file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\tempsessions\2689968419177371190\...

11/15/2011 Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 6 of 15 Tens of thousands of pages of government and industry studies were examined, along with test results, inspection reports and regulatory policy statements filed over four decades. Interviews were conducted with scores of managers, regulators, engineers, scientists, whistleblowers, activists, and residents living near the reactors, which are located at 65 sites, mostly in the East and Midwest.AP reporting teams toured some of the oldest reactors -the unit here at Oyster Creek, near the Atlantic coast 50 miles east of Philadelphia, and two units at Indian Point, 25 miles north of New York City along the Hudson River.Called "Oyster Creak" by some critics because of its aging problems, this boiling water reactor began running in 1969 and ranks as the country's oldest operating commercial nuclear power plant. Its license was extended in 2009 until 2029, though utility officials announced in December that they'll shut the reactor 10 years earlier rather than build state-ordered cooling towers. Applications to extend the lives of pressurized water units 2 and 3 at Indian Point, each more than 36 years old, are under review by the NRC.Unprompted, several nuclear engineers and former regulators used nearly identical terminology to describe how industry and government research has frequently justified loosening safety standards to keep aging reactors within operating rules. They call the approach "sharpening the pencil" or "pencil engineering" -the fudging of calculations and assumptions to yield answers that enable plants with deteriorating conditions to remain in compliance."Many utilities are doing that sort of thing," said engineer Richard T. Lahey Jr., who used to design nuclear safety systems for General Electric Co., which makes boiling water reactors. "I think we need nuclear power, but we can't compromise on safety.I think the vulnerability is on these older plants." Added Paul Blanch, an engineer who left the industry over safety issues but later returned to work on solving them: "It's a philosophical position that (federal regulators) take that's driven by the industry and by the economics:

What do we need to do to let those plants continue to operate? They somehow sharpen their pencil to either modify their interpretation of the regulations, or they modify their assumptions in the risk assessment." In public pronouncements, industry and government say aging is well under control. "I see an effort on the part of this agency to always make sure that we're doing the right things for safety. I'm not sure that I see a pattern of staff simply doingthings because there's an interest to reduce requirements

-that's certainly not the case," NRC chairman Gregory Jaczko said in an interview at agency headquarters in Rockville, Md.Neil Wilmshurst, director of plant technology for the industry's Electric Power Research Institute, acknowledged that the industry and NRC often collaborate on research that supports rule changes. But he maintained that there's "no kind of misplaced alliance ... to get the right answer." Yet agency staff, plant operators, and consultants paint a different picture in little-known reports, where evidence of industry-wide problems is striking:-The AP reviewed 226 preliminary notifications

-alerts on emerging safety problems -issued by the NRC since 2005.Wear and tear in the form of clogged lines, cracked parts, leaky seals, rust and other deterioration contributed to at least 26 alerts over the past six years. Other notifications lack detail, but aging also was a probable factor in 113 additional alerts. That would constitute up to 62 percent in all. For example, the 39-year-old Palisades reactor in Michigan shut Jan. 22 when an electrical cable failed, a fuse blew, and a valve stuck shut, expelling steam with low levels of radioactive tritium into the air outside. And a one-inch crack in a valve weld aborted a restart in February at the LaSalle site west of Chicago.-One 2008 NRC report blamed 70 percent of potentially serious safety problems on "degraded conditions." Some involve human factors, but many stem from equipment wear, including cracked nozzles, loose paint, electrical problems, or offline cooling components.-Confronted with worn parts that need maintenance, the industry has repeatedly requested

-and regulators have often allowed -inspections and repairs to be delayed for months until scheduled refueling outages. Again and again, problems file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\tempsessions\2689968419177371190\...

11/15/2011 Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 7 of 15 worsened before they were fixed. Postponed inspections inside a steam generator at Indian Point allowed tubing to burst, leading to a radioactive release in 2000. Two years later, cracking was allowed to grow so bad in nozzles on the reactor vessel at the Davis-Besse plant near Toledo, Ohio, that it came within two months of a possible breach, the NRC acknowledged in a report. A hole in the vessel could release radiation into the environment, yet inspections failed to catch the same problem on the replacement vessel head until more nozzles were found to be cracked last year.TIME CRUMBLES THINGS Nuclear plants are fundamentally no more immune to the incremental abuses of time than our cars or homes: Metals grow weak and rusty, concrete crumbles, paint peels, crud accumulates.

Big components like 17-story-tall concrete containment buildings or 800-ton reactor vessels are all but impossible to replace. Smaller parts and systems can be swapped, but still pose risks as a result of weak maintenance and lax regulation or hard-to-predict failures.

Even when things are fixed or replaced, the same parts or others nearby often fail later.Even mundane deterioration at a reactor can carry harsh consequences.

For example, peeling paint and debris can be swept toward pumps that circulate cooling water in a reactor accident.

A properly functioning containment building is needed to create air pressure that helps clear those pumps. The fact is, a containment building could fail in a severe accident.

Yet the NRC has allowed operators to make safety calculations that assume containment buildings will hold.In a 2009 letter, Mario V. Bonaca, then-chairman of the NRC's Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, warned that this approach represents "a decrease in the safety margin" and makes a fuel-melting accident more likely. At Fukushima, hydrogen explosions blew apart two of six containment buildings, allowing radiation to escape from overheated fuel in storage pools.Many photos in NRC archives -some released in response to AP requests under the federal Freedom of Information Act-show rust accumulated in a thick crust or paint peeling in long sheets on untended equipment at nuclear plants. Other breakdowns can't be observed or predicted, even with sophisticated analytic methods -especially for buried, hidden or hard-to-reach parts.Industry and government reports are packed with troubling evidence of unrelenting wear -and repeated regulatory compromises.

Four areas stand out: BRITTLE VESSELS: For years, operators have rearranged fuel rods to limit gradual radiation damage to the steel vessels protecting the core and to keep them strong enough to meet safety standards.

It hasn't worked well enough.Even with last year's weakening of the safety margins, engineers and metal scientists say some plants may be forced to close over these concerns before their licenses run out -unless, of course, new compromises with regulations are made. But the stakes are high: A vessel damaged by radiation becomes brittle and prone to cracking in certain accidents at pressurized water reactors, potentially releasing its radioactive contents into the environment.

LEAKY VALVES: Operators have repeatedly violated leakage standards for valves designed to bottle up radioactive steam in the event of earthquakes and other accidents at boiling water reactors.Many plants have found they could not adhere to the general standard allowing each of these parts -known as main steam isolation valves -to leak at a rate of no more than 11.5 cubic feet per hour. In 1999, the NRC decided to permit individual plants to seek amendments of up to 200 cubic feet per hour for all four steam valves combined.file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\tempsessions\2689968419177371190\...

11/15/2011 Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 8 of 15 But plants keep violating even those higher limits. For example, in 2007, Hatch Unit 2, in Baxley, Ga., reported combined leakage of 574 cubic feet per hour.CRACKED TUBING: The industry has long known of cracking in steel alloy tubing originally used in the steam generators of pressurized water reactors.

Ruptures were rampant in these tubes containing radioactive coolant; in 1993 alone, there were seven. Even today, as many as 18 reactors are still running on old generators.

Problems can arise even in a newer metal alloy, according to a report of a 2008 industry-government workshop.CORRODED PIPING: Nuclear operators have failed to stop an epidemic of leaks in pipes and other underground equipment in damp settings.

The country's nuclear sites have suffered more than 400 accidental radioactive leaks during their history, the activist Union of Concerned Scientists reported in September.

Plant operators have been drilling monitoring wells and patching hidden or buried piping and other equipment for several years to control an escalating outbreak.Here, too, they have failed. Between 2000 and 2009, the annual number of leaks from underground piping shot up fivefold, according to an internal industry document obtained and analyzed by the AP.CONCERNS OF LONG STANDING Even as they reassured the public, regulators have been worrying about aging reactors since at least the 1980s, when the first ones were entering only their second decade of operation.

A 1984 report for the NRC blamed wear, corrosion, crud and fatigue for more than a third of 3,098 failures of parts or systems within the first 12 years of industry operations; the authors believed the number was actually much higher.A decade later, in 1994, the NRC reported to Congress that the critical shrouds lining reactor cores were cracked at a minimum of 11 units, including five with extensive damage. The NRC ordered more aggressive maintenance, but an agency report last year said cracking of internal core components

-spurred by radiation

-remains "a major concern" in boiling water reactors.A 1995 study by Oak Ridge National Laboratory covering a seven-year period found that aging contributed to 19 percent of scenarios that could have ended in severe accidents.

In 2001, the Union of Concerned Scientists, which does not oppose nuclear power, told Congress that aging problems had shut reactors eight times within 13 months.And an NRC presentation for an international workshop that same year warned of escalating wear at reactor buildings meant to bottle up radiation during accidents.

A total of 66 cases of damage were cited in the presentation, with corrosion reported at a quarter of all containment buildings.

In at least two cases -at the two-reactor North Anna site 40 miles northwest of Richmond, Va., and the two-unit Brunswick facility near Wilmington, N.C. -steel containment liners designed to shield the public had rusted through.And in 2009, a one-third-inch hole was discovered in a liner at Beaver Valley Unit 1 in Shippingport, Pa.Long-standing, unresolved problems persist with-electrical cables, too.In a 1993 report labeled "official use only," an NRC staffer warned that electrical parts throughout plants were subject to dangerous age-related breakdowns unforeseen by the agency. Almost a fifth of cables failed in testing that simulated the effects of 40 years of wear. The report warned that as a result, reactor core damage could occur much more often than expected.file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\tempsessions\2689968419177371190\...

11/15/2011 Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 9 of 15 Fifteen years later, the problem appeared to have worsened.

An NRC report warned in 2008 that rising numbers of electrical cables are failing with age, prompting temporary shutdowns and degrading safety. Agency staff tallied 269 known failures over the life of the industry.Two industry-funded reports obtained by the AP said that managers and regulators have worried increasingly about the reliability of sometimes wet, hard-to-reach underground cables over the past five-to-10 years. One of the reports last year acknowledged many electrical-related aging failures at plants around the country."Multiple cable circuits may fail when called on to perform functions affecting safety," the report warned.EATEN AWAY FROM WITHIN Few aging problems have been more challenging than chemical corrosion from within.In one of the industry's worst accidents, a corroded pipe burst at Virginia's Surry 2 reactor in 1986 and showered workers with scalding steam, killing four.In summer 2001, the NRC was confronted with a new problem: Corrosive chemicals were cracking nozzles on reactors.

But the NRC let operators delay inspections to coincide with scheduled outages. Inspection finally took place in February 2002 at the Davis-Besse unit in Ohio.What workers found shocked the industry.They discovered extensive cracking and a place where acidic boron had spurted from the reactor and eaten a gouge as big as a football.

When the problem was found, just a fraction of an inch of inner lining remained.

An NRC analysis determined that the vessel head could have burst within two months -what former NRC Commissioner Peter Bradford has called a "near rupture" which could have released large amounts of radiation into the environment.

In 2001-3 alone, at least 10 plants developed these cracks, according to an NRC analysis.Industry defenders blame human failings at Davis-Besse.

Owner FirstEnergy Corp. paid a $28 million fine, and courts convicted two plant employees of hiding the deterioration.

NRC spokesman Scott Burnell declared that the agency "learned from the incident and improved resident inspector training and knowledge-sharing to ensure that such a situation is never repeated." Yet on the same March day last year that Burnell's comments were released, Davis-Besse workers again found dried boron on the nozzles of a replacement vessel head, indicating more leaks. Inspecting further, they again found cracks in 24 of 69 nozzles."We were not expecting this issue," said plant spokesman Todd Schneider.

In August, the operator applied for a 20-year license extension.

Under pressure from the NRC, the company has agreed to replace the replacement head in October.As far back as the 1990s, the industry and NRC also were well aware that the steel-alloy tubing in many steam generators was subject to chemical corrosion.

It could crack over time, releasing radioactive gases that can bypass the containment building.

If too much spurts out, there may be too little water to cool down the reactor, prompting a core melt.In 1993, NRC personnel reported seven outright ruptures inside the generators, several forced outages per year, and some complete replacements.

Personnel at the Catawba plant near Charlotte, N.C., found more than 8,000 corroded tubes -more than half its total.file ://C :\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\tempsessions\2689968419177371190\...

11 / 15/2011 Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 10 of 15 For plants with their original generators, "there is no end in sight to the steam generator tube degradation problems," a top agency manager declared.

NRC staffers warned: "Crack depth is difficult to measure reliably and the crack growth rate is difficult to determine." Yet no broad order was issued for shutdowns to inspect generators.

Instead, the staff began to talk to operators about how to deal with the standard that no cracks could go deeper than 40 percent through the tube wall.In 1995, the NRC staff put out alternative criteria that let reactors keep running if they could reach positive results with remote checks known as "eddy-currents tests." The new test standard gave more breathing room to reactors.According to a 2001 report by the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, the staff "acknowledged that there would be some possibility that cracks of objectionable depth might be overlooked and left in the steam generator for an additional operating cycle." The alternative, the report said, would be to repair or remove potentially many tubes from service.NRC engineer Joe Hopenfeld, who had worked previously in the industry, challenged this approach at the time from within the agency. He warned that multiple ruptures in corroded tubing could release radiation.

The NRC said radiation would be confined.Hopenfeld now says this conclusion wasn't based on solid analysis but "wishful thinking" and research meant to reach a certain conclusion

--another instance of "sharpening the pencil.""It was a hard problem to solve, and they did not want to say it was a problem, because if they really said it was a problem, they would have to shut down a lot of reactors." AGE IS NO ISSUE, SAYS INDUSTRY With financial pressures mounting in the 1990s to extend the life of aging reactors, new NRC calculations using something called the "Master Curve" put questionable reactor vessels back into the safe zone.A 1999 NRC review of the Master Curve, used to analyze metal toughness, noted that energy deregulation had put financial pressure on nuclear plants. It went on: "So utility executives are considering new operational scenarios, some of which were unheard of as little as five years ago: extending the licensed life of the plant beyond 40 years." As a result, it said, the industry and the NRC were considering "refinements" of embrittlement calculations "with an eye to reducing known over-conservatisms." Asked about references to economic pressures, NRC spokesman Burnell said motivations are irrelevant if a technology works.Former NRC commissioner Peter Lyons said, "There certainly is plenty of research ... to support a relaxation of the conservativisms that had been built in before. I don't see that as decreasing safety. I see that as an appropriate standard." Though some parts are too big and too expensive to replace, industry defenders also point out that many others are routinely replaced over the years.Tony Pietrangelo, chief nuclear officer of the industry's Nuclear Energy Institute, acknowledges that you'd expect to see a growing failure rate at some point -"if we didn't replace and do consistent maintenance." In a sense, then, supporters of aging nukes say an old reactor is essentially a collection of new parts.file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\tempsessions\2689968419177371190\...

11/15/2011 Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds -OC Watchdog:

The Orange County Register Page 11 of 15"When a plant gets to be 40 years old, about the only thing that's 40 years old is the ink on the license," said NRC chief spokesman Eliot Brenner. "Most, if not all of the major components, will have been changed out." Oyster Creek spokesman David Benson said the reactor "is as safe today as when it was built." Yet plant officials have been trying to arrest rust on its 100-foot-high, radiation-blocking steel drywell for decades. The problem was declared solved long ago, but a rust patch was found again in late 2008. Benson said the new rust was only the size of a dime, but acknowledged there was "some indication of water getting in." In an effort to meet safety standards, aging reactors have been forced to come up with backfit on top of backfit.As Ivan Selin, a retired NRC chairman, put it: "It's as if we were all driving Model T's today and trying to bring them up to current mileage standards." For example, the state of New Jersey -not the NRC -had ordered Oyster Creek to build cooling towers to protect sea life in nearby Barnegat Bay. Owner Exelon Corp. said that would cost about $750 million and force it to close the reactor year license extension notwithstanding.

Even with the announcement to close in 2019, Oyster Creek will have been in operation for 50 years.Many of the safety changes have been justified by something called "risk-informed" analysis, which the industry has employed widely since the 1990s: Regulators set aside a strict check list applied to all systems and focus instead on features deemed to carry the highest risk.But one flaw of risk-informed analysis is that it doesn't explicitly account for age. An older reactor is not viewed as inherently more unpredictable than a younger one. Ed Lyman, a physicist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, says risk-informed analysis has usually served "to weaken regulations, rather than strengthen them." Even without the right research, the NRC has long reserved legal wiggle room to enforce procedures, rules and standards as it sees fit. A 2008 position paper by the industry group EPRI said the approach has brought "a more tractable enforcement process and a significant reduction in the number of cited violations." But some safety experts call it "tombstone regulation," implying that problems fester until something goes very wrong. "Until there are tombstones, they don't regulate," said Blanch, the longtime industry engineer who became a whistleblower.

Barry Bendar, a database administrator who lives one mile from Oyster Creek, said representatives of Exelon were asked at a public meeting in 2009 if the plant had a specific life span."Their answer was, 'No, we can fix it, we can replace, we can patch,"' said Bendar. "To me, everything reaches an end of its life span." More nuclear stuff: More Watchdog: Posted in: Federal government

-Nuclear stuff -Public safety .Utilities ADVERTISEMENT You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response.

Pinging is currently not allowed.file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\tempsessions\2689968419177371190\...

11/15/2011 Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 12 of 15 Reader Comments Comments are encouraged, but you must follow our User Agrcement.

1. Keep it civil and stay on topic.2. No profanity, vulgarity, racial slurs or personal attacks.3. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked.Leave a Reply------- I Name (required)

Email (required)

... .. ...... Website Submit Comment* ADVERTISEMENT W The page cannot be displayec The page you are looking for is currently unavailable.

" might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you ma'your browser settings.Please try the following: " Click the M Refresh button, or try again later." If you typed the page address in the Address b that it is spelled correctly." To check your connection settings, click the To o Commenting on this Blog Blogs and articles on OCRegister.com now use Facebook commenting, which means you will need a Facebook account in order to leave a comment. Read a note from editor Ken Brusic about the switch. Got questions about what will show up where? Read: Prevent your comments from showing up on Facebook from OC Unwired." Recent Posts file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\tempsessions\2689968419177371190\...

11/15/2011 Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 13 of 15" Independent eyes on San Onofic's $64 million quake study?" Human performance still an issue at nuclear plant" County~to rab $73 million from schools, force state to make up for it" Picture show: Death spiral of state's antique tax system" Taxes on wine._beer, booze help fuel state" Rail critic: High-speed agency moving too fast" Slas_!_ed paycecks:

Newly fatshionableamong city councils" FTC busts 'scam recovery' scam* Beware Vct.rans Day BBB* ._A_ ge n_.¢ i~~~~~~~~~~~~~~......s.._ea

.!_d. _ ........ q.$.....__l!ac*

Q .C...'_..a

~ d kjdf*Agecniesearned mu lionris-t-o-place O.C 's abused kids 0o F ....... Search Blog1 o Categories o Archives I Sel"ct Mnh ..o Contact the bloggers Teri Sforza -tsforzaqocregister.com Tony Saavedra -tssaavedra.@_cregistercomn Brian Joseph -bjoscph@ocregistcr.com Kimberly Edds -kedds@(Qc.register.com o El C aliforniaa Watch-Trucking_.i'_opmp._naies sue EPA over emissions regulations m Palo Alto is California's most educated city m Critics aim to end ranked-choice voting after SF mayoral race m Agency- Emissions must be curbed now to avoid severe warming w US deportees to Haiti, jailed without cause face severe health risks o ED Pro Publica* Pfizer's Latest Twist on 'Pay for Delay_" EDA Rsnponds to ProPublica Story on X-Ray Body Scanners" Top Muckreads:

Ashes of Troops Tossed to Landfills, Fake Honey at Your Grocer" Energy Dept. Panel Warns of Environmental Toll of CtUTent Gas .Drilling Practices*EPA Finds~ CompDound Used in Firacking in Wyomjing Aqu~ifer.........

.. .. ......_...A .... .n ...d.... ......I._. ....__ ...mp g n .U .......e.......i...

..F..a...n ... ! _ y .~.! ... .A ....q..t.t i.e............

o" E Sign On San Diego" Otay Water leader wants contract canceled SCo.ge.e _ompaac.texcludes charters SAguirreturning attention to countypension" Tax finds cover Dynegy's travel, meals* UC Berkeley engyneerige school to address sexism o El Watchdog Institute" Filner Slider-- do not delete" Filner's legislative machine: Scores of bills benefit veterans, private individuals; Money flows from file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\tempsessions\2689968419177371190\...

11/15/2011 Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 14 of 15 lobbyists and beneficiaries

-Soine_.private bills interests" How we did_

influence and lgIislation" San Diegans are blowing a gasket over new water-sewer billing system* Most local businesses.p-ay_

9/.1J1oans

_butsile stwck taxpaers with a $1.t3 nilho___ab" About the Special Pay Data* Special Pay_ ncreases County$ aries. Counts Toward Pensions SSpecial.Pay Slider -DO NOT DELETE m .Sn DiegoQC.Qitnty-,Spe_.c'a!._P.ay W ]IRE" Doctor data back online. but shackled by new restrictions" New IRE Award categories better reflect changes in news industry" 2011 IRE Awards -Call for Entries" Apply for the Philip Meyer Journalism Award -deadline for entries is Monday, Oct. 3 1" Help ign a. NICAR.T-shirt , ADVERTISEMENT Return toTop* news* sports* business* entertainment

• life*travel* opinion SReal. estate* Jobs* Cars* Deals* Cassifieds

• Place an Ad* ADVERTISE OPTIONS o Self Service o Place an Online Ad o Pl-ace.a.Print Ad o Placc akClss ifie..dd Ad o Media Kit o Advertising Contact Info CONTACT OCREGISTER o About Us o Careers o Contact Us o ......Correct..ons o Customr Service file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\tempsessions\2689968419177371190\...

11/15/2011 Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 15 of 15 o Subscribe Today o Subs.criber.

Serv ices o Site Help o Site Feedback" OCR SERVICES o Archives o Buy Our Photos o Ca.Ii.forrnia Lott.ery.o Deals o OCRegister Fanshop.o Ora nesses o Regis cr.. s ider o -.Register i .p Educati.o_.p o Obitwu.aries o Facebook Comments FAQs" NEWS YOUR WAY o Blogs o E-Mail Newsletters o E-Register o Mobile o RSS o ArOtic Map o Sitc. Map o Video" ADVERTISING o CIa.s.si fi eds o Car s o De al.s.o Job-s o Real Estate o Place a Classified Ad o Vi u Media. Kit o Interactive" PARTNERS o .KDOC-TV o MSNBC o OC E.x-celsior o Coast Magazine o Prefeed t)estinatio.n o QrangeCounQ.ty...o.M o Frece.domn Po l i tics.qco.y.

n Orange County Register Communications Privacy Policy I Site Help I User Agreement Site Map SEO Powered by Platinunlm S.E 0. from Tc.ch..blissonlin.)e file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\tempsessions\2689968419177371190\...

11/15/2011 Quakes pose greater risk to U.S. nuclear reactors -OC Watchdog

• The Orange County Register* REAL .ESTATE" JOBS." CARS" DEALS" CLASSIFIEDS" PLACE AN AD" SUBSCRIBE" E-REGISTER" CUSTOMER SERVICE" TODAY'S PAPER Orange County Register" SURF REPORT/CAMS I" 46.0 0 F in Santa Ana* I LIVE TRAFFIC* HOME* NEWS* SPORTS* BUSINESS* ENTERTAINMENT" LIFE* TRAVEL* OPINION Latest Headlines on OCRegister.com

[x] Close" NEWS o Man accused of using Craigslist for teen sex 39 minutes ago o .-... .... ...t.b...m.e.di.a...

.......e. price hits 9-year low 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> & 52 minutes ago o Ca.....f.......ga....

ad.v..oc.its.., .C. .aws...i..

t. s 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> & 49 minutes ago o Lanes cleared after pickup upends on 1-5 47 minutes ago* SPORTS o O.C.foQotall:

Ei:nalToop10of the regular season 32 minutes ago o Barkleyv:

What if he stays at USC? 17 minutes ago o Vetlander wins AL.Cvyoung Award 18 minutes ago o Ducks' travel ogiue: Chapter One (poj(tos) 23 minutes ago" BUSINESS o Statejobswon't return to peak for 5_years 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> & 51 minutes ago o Calif. !gal reform_ advocate cites _OC. lawsuits 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> & 49 minutes ago o Really? Home prices to drop 8% more?o O.C. tech firm to buy back_$200_million in stock 2 hours2.314815e-5 days <br />5.555556e-4 hours <br />3.306878e-6 weeks <br />7.61e-7 months <br /> & 13 minutes ago* ENTERTAINMENT o New albums: Bocelli, R.E.M._, Drake_ _Glee'andmore 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> & 35 minutes ago o Celebrity baby names: From the awesome to the ridiculous o 'Must See O.C.': How many have you visited'?o AfterWork:

Wine Gallery in Corona del Mar* LIFE Page 1 of 10 file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\temp-sessions\6359596951766617552\...

11/15/2011 Quakes pose greater risk to U.S. nuclear reactors -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register o Madonna's new face -minus 23 years o Ame.riecans arrebuying.m ore._xpensive 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> & 43 minutes ago o Art_ show. fo.r Slurfrider.i..n San Clementte.

o Not a deal: Earmuffs on sale for $27 33 minutes ago" TRAVEL o New airport terminal is just big eou h 24 minutes ago o Baggage woes hit ne.w...JWA termina.l..

o JWA to offer Mexico flights o Readers hopingg for JWA flights to. M.eico* OPINION o Today's cartoons:

The real 99 1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> & 17 minutes ago o Morning letters: Santa Ana immigration report questioned o Reader. Rebutta1_(Mike Levi...n):..Cap..,a n..dtrade 22 minutes ago o Thoomas. Sow : q.I.IWil.l..Republican., blI.ow it?" Newsletter" RSS" M!o~bile" Facebook" Twitter Page 2 of 10 Bog-s I C.aifornia I City-by-City News I C.olumns I Crime and Courts I Data Central I Education I Immigration I Military I Nation I Obituaries OC Watchdog Photos I Politics and Government 1 Science I Technology I Videos I World OC Watchdog -Your tax dollars at work < Pl.ey.'i.ous Po-st Ne.xt P ost>>.. .e .._P...Q t.. All Posts Quakes pose greater risk to U.S. nuclear reactors September 2nd, 2011, 3:00 am *posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer Tweet file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\temp sessions\6359596951766617552\...

11/15/2011 Quakes pose greater risk to U.S. nuclear reactors -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 3 of 10 Updated with graphic, NRC comment Earthquakes pose a far greater risk to America's nuclear power plants than previously thought, atn Associated Prnes-s investigation has found -and one of every four reactors may need modifications to make them safer."The threat came into sharp focus last week, when shaking from the largest earthquake to hit Virginia in 117 years appeared to exceed what the North Anna nuclear power plant northwest of Richmond was built to sustain," AP writes. "The two North Anna reactors are among 27 in the eastern and central U.S. that a preliminary Nuclear Regulatory Commission review has said may need upgrades." California's nuclear plants, which are soon up for relicensing, were not included in the review, as the earthquake risk here is well-known (if magnitude remains a matter of some debate). Plans for more extensive seismic studies are under way for both San Onofre and DiabloCanyoanplants before any license renewals are issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, though San Onofre has still not decided whether to ask for an extension.

Its licenses expire in 2022.'NOT A GOOD STORY'"The NRC and the industry say reactors are safe as they are, for now," AP writes. "But emails obtained in a more than 11,000-page records request by The Associated Press show that NRC experts were worried privately this year that plants needed stronger safeguards to account for the higher risk assessments.

file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\temp-sessions\6359596951766617552\...

11/15/2011 Quakes pose greater risk to U.S. nuclear reactors -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 4 of 10"After the March earthquake in Japan that caused the biggest nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, NRC staffers fretted in emails that the agency's understanding of earthquake risk for existing reactors was out of date."In a March 15 email, for example, an NRC earthquake expert questioned releasing data to the public showing how strong an earthquake each plant was designed to withstand.

The seismologist, Annie Kammerer, acknowledged that recent science showed stronger quakes could happen. 'Frankly, it is not a good story for us,' she wrote to agency colleagues."Kammerer's boss, Brian Sheron, who heads the NRC's Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, wrote in a March 14 email that updated numbers showed the government

'didn't know everything about the seismicity' in the central and the eastern part of the country."'And isn't there a prediction that the West Coast is likely to get hit with some huge earthquake in the next 30 years or so? Yet we relicense their plants,"'

he wrote.Read the AP's full story here.'PLANTS ARE SAFE'We asked the NRC to weigh in, and spokesman Victor Dricks said this by mail: "All operating nuclear power plants in the United States -including San Onofre and Diablo Canyon in California

-are seismically safe with no need for immediate action because they were built with substantial design margins to protect them from earthquakes.

The NRC is currently looking at file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\temp-sessions\6359596951766617552\...

11/15/2011 Quakes pose greater risk to U.S. nuclear reactors -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 5 of 10 whether additional steps could be taken to further improve the safety of existing plants." John Keeley, spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry trade group, offered this: "We'd note -as the AP story does -that the NRC has affirmed that our plants are safe," Keely said by email. "That was an NRC Fukushima task force finding. All of our facilities have specific seismic standards based on the historical earthquake activity of the region, plus additional safety margins." The industry also responded with a two-page fact __sheet, expounding on this theme: "All nuclear energy facilities have specific seismic protection standards based on the historical earthquake activity in that area, plus an additional margin of safety. No American nuclear energy facility has ever sustained significant damage from an earthquake.

As a precaution, reactors are designed to automatically shut down safely and if such a disturbance results in a loss of electric power from the grid. Operators also can shut the reactor down manually as a safety precaution if conditions warrant...."Like many scientific and engineering issues that span decades, there is new information emerging about earthquakes, particularly in the central and eastern regions of the United States. The industry and the independent U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission are evaluating this data and this fall will discuss steps that may be taken to update seismic criteria."Although there is not an immediate safety concern, the NRC is focused on assuring safety during even very rare and extreme events. Therefore, the NRC has determined that assessment of updated seismic hazards and plant performance should continue," the agency said inan FAQ about its seismic programs." More from the NEI below.See the AP's recent four-part investigation of America's nuclear plants: " Part 1: Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds" Part 2: Tritium leaks plagued nuclear plants, including San Onofre" Part 3: San Onofre nuke's neighbors:

Up almost 300 percent" Part 4: Feds have never said no to nuclear plant relicensing More nuclear stuff: More Watchdog: Nuclear Energy Institute Statement September 1,2011 AP Ignores Continuous Upgrading of Reactor Seismic Standards by Industry, NRC The Associated Press article "Gov't Says 27 US Reactors Could Be More Vulnerable to Earthquakes; Review Planned" misconstrues the ongoing evaluations the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the nuclear energy industry perform to ensure seismic safety at U.S. commercial nuclear reactors.Myth The article says, "Federal scientists update seismic assessments every five to six years to revise building codes for some structures.

But no similar system is in place for all but two of the nation's 104 reactors." file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\temp-sessions\6359596951766617552\...

11/15/2011 Quakes pose greater risk to U.S. nuclear reactors -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 6 of 10 The Facts The nuclear energy industry and NRC continuously review seismic data and examine safety at U.S. reactors.

In fact, some companies already have reviewed their plant's ability to withstand earthquakes in the vicinity for their site using updated NRC data. These calculations show a low risk of damage to reactor fuel as a result of an earthquake.

We have learned new information about past earthquakes from reviewing additional written accounts of those events and by performing geological studies. Seismic source models are being updated to incorporate this data as well as that from other, more recent earthquakes that have occurred.Also, NRC conducts ongoing studies of seismic risk to nuclear power plants, which the agency tracks as a generic issue (GI-199) because there are open issues pertaining to some reactors.In 2010, the NRC issued information notice 2010-18 to inform operators of nuclear power plants and independent spent fuel storage facilities of its findings.

The NRC's updated assessment of seismic risk to nuclear power plants in the central and eastern United States showed that all operating reactors have sufficient safety margin for seismic events and remain consistent with the agency's safety goals.Myth The article states, "Current regulations don't require the NRC to make sure nuclear reactors are still capable of dealing with a new understanding of the [seismic]

threats." The Facts Like many scientific and engineering issues that span decades, there is new information emerging about earthquakes, particularly in the central and eastern regions of the United States. The industry and the NRC are evaluating this data and this fall will discuss steps that may be taken to update seismic criteria."Although there is not an immediate safety concern, the NRC is focused on assuring safety during even very rare and extreme events. Therefore, the NRC has determined that assessment of updated seismic hazards and plant performance should continue," the agency said.As new seismic data becomes available, utilities will perform the necessary safety reviews to maintain nuclear energy facilities with safe operating and shutdown capabilities.

As the industry continues to study the issue, plants will make investments to provide further assurance that the plant and public safety will be protected from seismic events.Myth The article states, "The risk that an earthquake would cause a severe accident at a U.S. nuclear plant is greater than previously thought, 24 times as high in one case, according to an AP analysis." The Facts The conclusions the article reaches are based on overly conservative calculations that tend to overpredict seismic hazards that might occur every 10,000 to 100,000 years.As the NRC has said: "The NRC does not rank nuclear plants by seismic risk. The objective of the GI-199 Safety/Risk Assessment was to perform a conservative, screening-level assessment to evaluate if further investigations of seismic safety for operating reactors in the central and eastern US are warranted." The results of the NRC's safety risk assessment in GI-199 should not be interpreted as definitive estimates of plant-specific seismic risk because some analyses were conservative, making the calculated risk higher than in reality. The nature of the information used makes these estimates useful only as a screening tool.Posted in: Edceralgvoernment

-Nuclear stuff Public safety ADVERTISEMENT file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\temp_sessions\6359596951766617552\...

11/15/2011 Quakes pose greater risk to U.S. nuclear reactors -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 7 of 10 You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response.

Pinging is currently not allowed.Reader Comments Comments are encouraged, but you must follow our User Agreement.

1. Keep it civil and stay on topic.2. No profanity, vulgarity, racial slurs or personal attacks.3. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked.Leave a Reply I -Name (required)

I .. ____ Email (required)

I :Website[-7 Submit Comment ADVERTISEMENT W The page cannot be displayec The page you are looking for is currently unavailable.

might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you ma'your browser settings.Please try the following: " Click the M, Refresh button, or try again later." If you typed the page address in the Address b that it is spelled correctly.

• To check your connection settings, click the To o Commenting on this Blog Blogs and articles on OCRegister.com now use Facebook commenting, which means you will need a Facebook account in order to leave a comment. Read a note from editor Ken Brusic about the switch. Got questions about what will show up where? Read: Prevent your comments from showing. up on Facebook from OC Unwired.o Recent Posts file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\temp-sessions\6359596951766617552\...

11/15/2011 Quakes pose greater risk to U.S. nuclear reactors -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 8 of 10" Independent eyes on San Onofre's $64 million quake study?" Human performance still an issue at nuclear plant" County to grab $73nmillion from schools, force state to make up for it" Picture show: Death spiral of state's antique tax system." Taxes o!n. winle, .bee rWbQQze help -fuel state" Rail. critic: High-speed agency moving too fast" Slashed paychecks:

Newlv fashionable among city councils* FTC busts 'scamn recoverv' scam" Bewa.c Vtras Va yscms,. warn.s B.BB." A encies earned millions to placcOC.'

s abused kids o [S search Blog o Categories I SeectCategory o Archives IS elec Month7,"1 o Contact the bloggers Teri Sforza -tsforza Civocregister.com Tony Saavedra -tsaavedra(ocregister.com Brian Joseph -bjosephl@ocregister.corn Kimberly Edds -

o D] California Watch* Trucking companies sue EPA over emissions regulations" Palo Alto is California's most educated city" Critics aim to end ranked-choice voting after SF mayoral race" Agency. Emissions must be curbed now to avoid severe warming" US d.cpoorees to Haiti, jailed without cause, face severe health risks o ED Pro Publica" Pfizer's Latest Twist on 'Pay for Delay'" FDAk R.e sp~ojnds ..to ProPubhlI ica Story on .-RayB.ody Scanners" Top Muckreads:

Ashes of Troops Tossed to Landfills, Fake Honey at Your Grocer" Energy Dept. Panel Warns of Environmental Toll of Current Gas Drilling Practices" EPA Finds Compound Used in Fracking in Wyoming Aquifer o ED Sign On San Diego" Otay Water leader wants contract canceled* Collegepconpact excludes charters* Aguirre turning.atention to countyvpension" Tax funds cover Dynegy's travel, meals" UC Berkeley engigneering school. to address sexism o ED Watchdog jnstitute* Filner Slider_- do not delete" Filner's legislative machine: Scores of bills benefit veterans, private individuals:

Money flows from file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\temp-sessions\6359596951766617552\...

11/15/2011 Quakes pose greater risk to U.S. nuclear reactors -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register lobbyists and beneficiaries S ne. privyat .lls.b. enefit largerinterests" How we did it:Examinininfluence and lcgislation" San Diegans are blowing a gasket over new water-sewer billing systern SMostlocal businesses payon 9/11 loans but some stick taxppyers with a .$ $3 million tab" About the Special Pay Data" SpeckaLPaRy1npcreas Qes-ounty S$aaries, CounltsTowardP e.n.!siJ.on.s-" Special Pay Slider -DO NOT DELETE" San Diego CounttySpecial Pay o W] IRE* Doctor data back onl..ine.

but .s h.aqckledbY ne w re.strictiolns

• New IRE Award categories better reflect changes in news industry* 2011 IRE Awards -Call for Entries* Apply for the Philip .Meyer Journalism Award -deadline for entries is Monday, Oct. 3 1* .Hjelp-ts_

design.a N.ICNA.CAR T-shirt ADVERTISEMENT Page 9 of 10 Return to Top* home" news* sports" business* entertainment

• life* travel" opinion" Real esIta te* Jobs" Cars" Deals" Classifieds" Place an A.d" ADVERTISE OPTIONS o Selef Se.r.y*ice o Place an Online Ad o Place a Print Ad o Place a Classified Ad o Media Kit o A._d..v.e.rti.issing Co1tat LInfo" CONTACT OCREGISTER o About Us o Careers o Contact Us o Corrections o Customer Service file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\temp_sessions\6359596951766617552\...

11/15/2011 Quakes pose greater risk to U.S. nuclear reactors -OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 10 of 10 o Subscribe Today o Subscriber Services o Site.H.elp.

o Site Feedback" OCR SERVICES o Arch..iv.es o Buy Our Photos o California Lottery o Deals o OCRcgi ster Fan.shop o OranlgeCountyBusinesses o Register Insider o Register in Education o O bituarie-s o Facebook Conmments FAQs* NEWS YOUR WAY o Blogs o E-Mail Newsletters o E-Register o Mob le o RSS o Article Map_o SiteM.ap o Video" ADVERTISING o ClAssified~s.

o Cars o Deals o Jobs o Real. Estate o Place a Classified Ad o View our .M.edia Kit o Interactive" PARTNERS o KDOC-TV o MSNBC o OC Excelsior o Coast Magazine o PreferredDestination o Q.a__.ge...CQunty.._n!

o FreedomPolitics.corn N Orange County Register Communications Privacy Policy I Site Help I User Agreement Site .Map SEO Powered by Platinum SEO from Techblissonline file://C:\Program Files\Documentum\CTS\docbases\ProDocbase\config\temp_sessions\6359596951766617552\...

11/15/2011 Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation's aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found.Time after time, officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, according to records and interviews.

Associated Press has recently completed a year-long investigation into the nuclear power industry in the United States, with some disturbing results. The AP's four-part series is attached so you can read why I am so pissed off that the NRC is lower the bar of safety standards and rubber-stamping the re-licensing of these relic nuclear plants! Nuclear Power plants were never built to last over 40 years and as they age, the probability of accidents increases exponentially, especially with the ever increasing unpredictability of the earth shifting in ways out of human control. There is great evidence that NRC has relaxed the standards for safety as well as not strictly enforced compliance issues if it meant it cost too much. Even if they were enforcing the standards of safety and not constantly lowering the bar on 'safe standards' of radiation releases.

There is no way to safeguard all life from such guaranteed accidents, especially since the NRC is in cahoots with the corporate nuclear industry (i.e. paid off and govt. lobbyists are totally ignorant of the trio dangers because they are bought off politicians).

Now there is all this political pressure for nuclear power being touted as 'clean &green' energy which is an absolute LIE! There has never been any SAFE level of internal radiation, it all causes genetic defects and cancer in all lifeforms, not just humans! Why do they get to 'play GOD' allowing them the power gamble everything valuable on earth for a quick buck? When these accidents start occurring like Fukushima coming home to roost, with the old reactors' get a 50% life extension policy, we are all doomed. Taxpayers, beware, for that is exactly who they will come to try to extort that money out of us to fix their horrendously ignorant mistakes for pathetic decision making with zero true regard for the highest good of all concerned!

Tune into what hell people are experiencing in Japan post-Fukushima and ask yourselves if that is the 'legacy' you really want to leave to the next generations of all life!Please read the 4 part series I am attaching and then in case you are some of the ill-informed, sold-out to the corporate government, then you may have a very serious wake up call to face!WAKE up stupid, it is almost already too late! we need to preserve life more than we need to derive 17% of our energy from this power plant being relicensed

.the data is not out yet on the true tragedy of the radioactive nightmare of Fukushima, but Hanford could be way worse than than since Daicchi was not fully loaded and operating at the time it blew. Now it is still in criticality, meaning there were 3 meltdowns which they never thought possible.

G.E. marketed that GE Mark 2 Nuke Plant design to Japan almost 40 years ago and even the designers of it resigned from working for G.E. because they said the design was inherently flawed. it was absolutely ignorant to place it on the shoreline there in japan in a known tsunami/active seismic zone and yet, they did it anyway. Your Hanford decision to push this power plant into the future in a known earthquake area is just as ignorant!

'Also, to just learn that DOE was planning to run it as a MOX reactor is equally stultifying.

This is a crime against all life! WTF! I have tried to see this from your point of view, i just can't get my head up my ass that far! I for one, pledge to bring all of this to the attention of my fellow species and bring this project done because we are the 99% and we are too big to fail!

Feds have never said no to nuclear plant relicensing

-OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 1 of 5 REAL ESTATE IJOBS CARS DEALS I CLASSIFIEDS I PLACE AN AD SUBSCRIBE E-REGISTER CUSTOMER SERVICE TODAY'S P SURF REPORT/CAMS I66.0F in S LIFE TRAVEL UPINIUN HOME NEWS SPORTS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT Blogs I California I City-by-City News I Columns I Crime and Courts I Data Central I Education I Immigration I Military I Nation I Obituaries I OC Watchdoo I Photos I Politics and Government I Science I Technology I Videos I World ADVERTISEMENT DC WATCHDOG SInoioNavigation to the web Your tax dollars at worký( Previous Post Next Post AP All Posts Feds have never said no to nuclear plant relicensing July 31st, 2011, 3:00 am *staff writer Tweet What you can try:.posted by Teri Sforza, Register Updated with new approval numbers, 8/1 Were America's nuclear reactors designed to last for 40 years, or for way more than that?This may soon be a very important question to residents of Orange County.While officials at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station have not yet made a decision about whether to ask the federal government to extend its license for an extra 20 years, SONGS' operator -Southern California Edison -has asked the state Public Utilities Commission for permission to do a $64 million study of earthquake fault patterns around the plant. (The study would be paid for by you, the customers, though SCE says that would add up to less than one percent of present overall rates.)So far, 71 of America's 104 reactors have been granted 20-year license renewals, which gives them an operating life 50 percent longer than originally envisioned.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has yet to reject a single application to extend an original license, the Associated Press found in its recent investigation of aging nukes.And most of these 20-year extensions have been granted with scant public attention."As part of a yearlong investigation of aging issues at the nation's nuclear power plants, the AP found that the relicensing process often lacks fully independent safety reviews. Records show that paperwork of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission sometimes matches word-for-word the language used in a plant operator's application," AP reported."Also, the relicensing process relies heavily on such paperwork, with very little onsite inspection and verification."And under relicensing rules, tighter standards are not required to compensate for decades of wear and tear.Commenting on this Blog Blogs and articles on OCRegister.com now Facebook commenting, which means you w need a Facebook account in order to leave.comment. Read a note from editor Ken Bru, about the switch. Got questions about what show up where? Read: Prevent your comments from showing up on Facebook fn OC Unwired.Recent Posts Independent eyes on San Onofre's $64 million quake study?Human performance still an issue at nucl plant County to grab $73 million from schools, force state to make up for it Picture show: Death spiral of state's anti tax system Taxes on wine, beer, booze help fuel sta Rail critic: High-speed agency moving to fast Slashed paychecks:

Newly fashionable among city councils FTC busts 'scam recovery' scam Beware Veterans Day scams, warns BBI Agencies earned millions to place O.C.'s abused kids https://fdms.erulemaking.netlfdms-web-agency/component/contentstreamer?objectld=090000648Of6...

11/16/2011 Feds have never said no to nuclear plant relicensing

-OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 2 of 5"Regulators and industry now contend that the 40-year limit was chosen for economic reasons and to satisfy antitrust concerns, not for safety issues. They contend that a nuclear plant has no technical limit on its life." See the other parts of this series: Tritium leaks plagued nuclear Plants, including San Onofre San Onofre nuke's neighbors:

Up almost 300 percent Danger? Feds lower bar for aging nuclear reactors, report finds The NRC and the nuclear industry say the investigation is full of holes. See the strong reaction of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry trade group here.This, meantime, is the final part of AP's four-part investigation:

Part IV: NRC and industry rewrite nuke history The Associated Press ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) -When commercial nuclear power was getting its start in the 1960s and 1970s, industry and regulators stated unequivocally that reactors were designed only to operate for 40 years. Now they tell another story -insisting that the units were built with no inherent life span, and can run for up to a century, an Associated Press investigation shows.By rewriting history, plant owners are making it easier to extend the lives of dozens of reactors in a relicensing process that resembles nothing more than an elaborate rubber stamp.As part of a yearlong investigation of aging issues at the nation's nuclear power plants, the AP found that the relicensing process often lacks fully independent safety reviews. Records show that paperwork of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission sometimes matches word-for-word the language used in a plant operator's application.

Also, the relicensing process relies heavily on such paperwork, with very little onsite inspection and verification.

And under relicensing rules, tighter standards are not required to compensate for decades of wear and tear.So far, 66 of 104 reactors have been granted license renewals.

Most of the 20-year extensions have been granted with scant public attention.

And the NRC has yet to reject a single application to extend an original license. The process has been so routine that many in the industry are already planning for additional license extensions, which could push the plants to operate for 80 years, and then 100.Regulators and industry now contend that the 40-year limit was chosen for economic reasons and to satisfy antitrust concerns, not for safety issues. They contend that a nuclear plant has no technical limit on its life.But an AP review of historical records, along with interviews with engineers who helped develop nuclear power, shows just the opposite:

Reactors were made to last only 40 years.Period.The record also shows that a design limitation on operating life was an accepted truism.In 1982, D. Clark Gibbs, chairman of the licensing and safety committee of an early industry group, wrote to the NRC that "most nuclear power plants, including those operating, under construction or planned for the future, are designed for a duty cycle which corresponds to a 40-year life." And three years later, when Illinois Power Co. sought a license for its Clinton station, utility official D.W. Wilson told the NRC on behalf of his company's nuclear licensing department that "all safety margins were established with the understanding of the limitations that are imposed by a 40-year design life." Some early advocates even believed that technological advances would enable the industry to replace those first models sooner.When he was a member of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy in the late 1960s, U.S.Rep. Craig Hosmer declared that "power companies expect nuclear generating stations to last 30 years." Nuclear physicist Ralph Lapp, an advocate of atomic power, predicted a 25-year life span.One person who should know the real story is engineering professor Richard T. Lahey Jr., at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. Lahey once served in the nuclear Navy. Later, in the early 1970s, he helped design reactors for General Electric Co.; he oversaw safety research and development.

Lahey dismisses claims that reactors were made with no particular life span. "These reactors were really designed for a certain lifetime," he said. "What they're saying is really a fabrication." And nuclear engineer Bill Corcoran, who worked for plant designer Combustion Engineering, said certain features were specifically created with 40 years in mind, like the reactor vessel, which holds the radioactive fuel. He said metals were calculated to hold up against fatigue for that long. Concrete containment buildings had to be strong enough to last that long.No one analyzed if they could last much longer.NUCLEAR LIFE RENEWED I .Search. BogI Categories I Select Category 1ýýArchives Contact the bloggers Teri Sforza -

Tony Saavedra -

Brian Joseph -bjoseph(aocregister.com Kimberly Edds -

1 California Watch Trucking companies sue EPA over emissions regulations Palo Alto is California's most educated ci Critics aim to end ranked-choice voting a SF mayoral race Agency: Emissions must be curbed now avoid severe warming US deportees to Haiti, mailed without cau., face severe health risks[ Pro Publica Pfizer's Latest Twist on 'Pay for Delay'FDA Responds to ProPublica Story on X Ray Body Scanners Top Muckreads:

Ashes of Troops Tosse Landfills, Fake Honey at Your Grocer Ener-gy Dept. Panel Warns of Environme Toll of Current Gas Drilling Practices EPA Finds Compound Used in Fracking Wyoming Aquifer[ Sign On San Diego Otay Water leader wants contract cancel College compact excludes charters Aguirre turning attention to county pensi(Tax funds cover Dynegy's travel, meals UC Berkeley engineering school to addrf sexism[ Watchdog Institute Filner Slider -do not delete Filner's legislative machine: Scores of bil benefit veterans, private individuals:

Mor flows from lobbyists and beneficiaries Some private bills benefit larger interests How we did it: Examining influence and legislation San Diegans are blowing a gasket over r water-sewer billing system https://fdms.erulemaking.net/fdms-web-agency/component/contentstreamer?obj ectld=090000648Of6...

11/16/2011 Feds have never said no to nuclear plant relicensing

-OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 3 of 5 It's easy to forget that the nuclear industry looked as if it might be dying off in the late 1990s.In 1999 and 2000, several nuclear plants sold for astounding fire-sale prices of less than $25 million each, according to trade group data obtained by the AP. The country's oldest, Oyster Creek near the New Jersey shore, went for $10 million -a paltry fraction of its $65 million construction cost in dollars adjusted for inflation.

But that was before relicensing, which changed everything.

Relicensing is a lucrative deal for operators.

By the end of their original licenses, reactors are largely paid for. When they're operating, they're producing profits. They generate a fifth of the country's electricity.

New ones would each cost billions of dollars and take many years for approval, construction and testing. Local opposition may be strong. Already there is controversy about the safety of a next-generation design. Even before the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex in Japan, only a handful of proposed new reactors in the U.S. had taken the first steps toward construction.

Solar and wind power are projected to make very limited contributions as electrical demand rises about 30 percent by 2035. So keeping old plants operating makes good business sense.But some watchdogs suggest the equation isn't that simple."The plants aren't any safer because they're needed, and they certainly aren't any safer because someone says they're needed. So that's the wrong way to regulate," said Peter Bradford, a former NRC commissioner who now sits on the board of the activist Union of Concerned Scientists.

It's challenging to keep existing plants safe and up to date.The NRC has indicated that safety improvements are likely in the aftermath of melted fuel in the Japanese reactors in March. NRC inspectors have found some problems with U.S.equipment and procedures.

But the agency says all sites are ready to deal with earthquakes and flooding.

The NRC also has formed a task force to investigate further and report back in July. Both the task force and the NRC chairman have already suggested that changes will be needed.Meanwhile, license renewals, which began in 2000, continue.

The process essentially requires a government-approved plan to manage wear. These plans entail more inspection, testing and maintenance by the operator, but only of certain equipment viewed as subject to deterioration over time.The plans focus on large systems like reactor vessels. It is assumed that existing maintenance is good enough to keep critical smaller parts -cables, controls, pumps, motors-in good working order for decades more.Some modernization has been put in place -upgrades on fire-prevention measures and electronic controls, for example. But many potential improvements are limited by the government's so-called "backfit rule." The provision exempts existing units from safety improvements unless such upgrades bring "a substantial increase" in public protection.

Even with required maintenance, aging problems keep popping up.During its Aging Nukes investigation, the AP conducted scores of interviews and analyzed thousands of pages of industry and government records, reports and data. The documents show that for decades compromises have been made repeatedly in safety margins, regulations and emergency planning to keep the aging units operating within the rules. The AP has reported that nuclear plants have sustained repeated equipment failures, leading critics to fear that the U.S. industry is one failure away from a disaster.INDUSTRY, GOVERNMENT AS PARTNERS Despite the aging problems, relicensing rules prohibits any overall safety review of the entire operation.

More conservative safety margins are not required in anticipation of higher failure rates in old plants, regulators acknowledge.

The approach has turned relicensing reviews into routine approvals."Everything I've seen is rubber-stamped," said Joe Hopenfeld, an engineer who worked on aging-related issues at the NRC before retiring in 2008. He has since worked for groups challenging relicensing.

Numerous reports from the NRC's Office of Inspector General offer disturbing corroboration of his view.For example, in 2002 the inspector general wrote: "Senior NRC officials confirmed that the agency is highly reliant on information from licensee risk assessments." Essentially that means the industry tells the NRC how likely an accident is and the NRC accepts the analysis.Five years later, in a relicensing audit, the inspector general complained of frequent instances of "identical or nearly identical word-for-word repetition" of the plant applications in NRC reviews. The inspector general worried that the repetition indicated superficial reviews that went through the motions, instead of thorough and independent examinations.

In one instance, both the renewal application for Millstone Unit 2 in Waterford, Conn., and the supposedly independent NRC review described corrosion control with identical language.Most local businesses pav on 9/11 loans some stick taxpayers with a $1.3 million About the Special Pay Data Special Pay Increases County Salaries, Counts Toward Pensions Special Pay Slider -DO NOT DELETE San Diego County Special Pay 10 IRE Doctor data back online, but shackled by new restrictions New IRE Award categories better reflect changes in news industry 2011 IRE Awards -Call for Entries Apply for the Philip Meyer Journalism AA-deadline for entries is Monday, Oct. 31 Help us design a NICAR T-shirt SUBSCRIBE VIA RSS FEED ADVERTISEMENT https://fdms.erulemaking.netlfdms-web-agency/componentlcontentstreamer?objectld=0900006480f6...

11 /16/2011 Feds have never said no to nuclear plant relicensing

-OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register From the Millstone application: "The number of planned and unplanned replacements has generally trended downward over the past several years due to the establishment of the Flow ADVERTISE OPTIONS-Accelerated Corrosion program and following the recommendations identified in NSAC-202L." Self Service From the NRC review: "The project team reviewed operating experience for the applicant's Place an Online Ad Flow-Accelerated Corrosion program. The number of planned and unplanned replacements Place a Print Ad has generally trended downward over the past several years due to the establishment of the Place a Classified Ad Flow-Accelerated Corrosion program and following the recommendations identified in NSAC- Media Kit 202L." Advertising Contact Both reactors at the site were given license extensions in 2005. Info The problems went beyond paperwork.

The inspector general found that the NRC reviews CONTACT OCREGISTER usually relied on the plants to report on their operating experience, but the agency didn't independently verify the information.

About Us NRC spokesman Eliot Brenner said staffers have now agreed to use their own words in their Careers reviews of relicensing applications.

Contact Us But the inspector general has not re-audited the process since. And Jerry Nappi, a Corrections spokesman for the Indian Point reactors 25 miles north of New York City, still describes it as Customer Service a "collegial process." Subscribe Today It is a process that was shaped in the late 1990s by Christopher Grimes, who was then Subscriber Services director of license renewal for the NRC. More recently, he has worked with local Indians to Site Help challenge parts of the license renewal request for the Prairie Island nuclear plant in Site Feedback Minnesota.

OCR SERVICES Grimes acknowledges that the NRC "has to rely much more on the contents of the applications

... over direct inspection." Archives He blames budget constraints, but others view relicensing as a charade. Clean Ocean Action Buy Our Photos unsuccessfully challenged relicensing at Oyster Creek in New Jersey, but chief scientist California Lottery Jennifer Sampson said, "We really knew it was a waste of time." Deals Adds Janet Tauro, another activist who fought the Oyster Creek relicensing: "Relicensing is OCRegister Fanshop designed for relicensing to happen. They've got all the plants on a conveyor belt, and they Orange County don't want anything slowing it down." Businesses Register Insider FROM 40 YEARS TO 60 AND BEYOND Register in Education There are two thrusts to the revisionist argument that nuclear reactors can last for decades Obituaries and decades: First, that they weren't really designed only for 40 years; second, that there is Facebook Comments no technical limitation on any length of time. In theory, they could run forever. FAQs Tony Pietrangelo, chief nuclear officer at the industry's Nuclear Energy Institute, says 40 NEWS YOUR WAY years for the initial license was simply how long it was expected to take to pay off construction loans. Bloqs In 2007, as Entergy Nuclear Operations sought a license extension for the Pilgrim reactor in E-Mail Newsletters Massachusetts, it wrote: "The original 40-year license term was selected on the basis of E-Reqister economic and antitrust considerations rather than on technical limitations." Mobile Yet writers seemingly contradicted themselves in the same document: "During the design RSS phase for a plant, assumptions concerning plant operating durations are incorporated into Article Map design calculations for plant systems, structures, and components." Site Mae The next year, an NRC report was more emphatic about the economic rationale of 40-year Video license, insisting that "this time limit was developed from utility antitrust concerns and not ADVERTISING physically based design limitations from engineering analysis, components, or materials." Even so, it too felt compelled to acknowledge, in passing, that "some individual plant and Classifieds equipment designs" were engineered for 40 years of life. Cars What's the truth? Fifty years ago, rural electricity cooperatives, worried about competition, did Deals object to granting indefinitely long licenses to the new nuclear industry.

But that's only part of Jobs the story. Real Estate The 40-year license was created by Congress as a somewhat arbitrary political compromise Place a Classified Ad-"some long period of time, because nobody in his right mind would want to operate a View our Media Kit nuclear plant beyond that time,"' said Ivan Selin, an engineer who chaired the NRC in the Interactive early 1990s. PARTNERS Instead of stopping at 40 years, or even 60, the industry began advancing the idea of even longer nuclear life in discussions with its NRC partners starting several years ago. KDOC-TV One of the first clear signs of their intentions emerged in 2008 with an NRC-industry MSNBC workshop on nuclear life beyond 60 years. Its summary said that "participants did not believe OC Excelsior there is any compelling policy, regulatory, technical or industry issue precluding future Coast Magazine extended plant operations." Preferred Destination The next year, an issue paper by the industry-funded Electric Power Research Institute said OrangeCounty.com that "many experts believe ... that these plants can operate safely well beyond their initial or FreedomPolitics.com extended operating periods -possibly to 80 or 100 years." In November, an EPRI survey of industry executives found that more than 60 percent of executives strongly believed reactors can last at least 80 years.Page 4 of 5 https://fdms.erulemaking.netlfdms-web-agency/componentlcontentstreamer?objectld=0900006480f6...

11/16/2011 Feds have never said no to nuclear plant relicensing

-OC Watchdog : The Orange County Register Page 5 of 5 Neil Wilmshurst, vice president of EPRI's nuclear sector, said in an interview that many in the industry foresee the feasibility of reactors lasting even longer.Adding its own push, Congress has set aside $12 million over the past two fiscal years for ORANGE COUNTY the Department of Energy to study if nuclear plants can last decades longer. R EG ISTER So for industry, the question is not if plants can run decades longer -that is now presumed COMMUNICATIONS true -but for how long?"The research must start now, as it will take years to gather the data necessary to justify life Copyright

© 2011 Orange County Register Communicati extension out to 80 or 100 years," EPRI says in a background document.

Prlicy All Rights Reserved.Maria Korsnick, senior vice president of Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, indicated that Mas her company may start applying for a second license extension within 10 years. Constellation Map owns two of the country's oldest reactors, Nine Mile Point and Ginna in upstate New York. It also owns Calvert Cliffs in Lusby, Md., which acquired the industry's first renewed license in March 2000. SEO Powered by"My challenge is that if you go ahead and let these current operating units retire, you're going Platinum SEO from to end up with a gap before you're going to have sufficiently been able to build the new nuclear plants to take their place," Korsnick said. "Why put myself in that crisis?" HOW LONG CAN THEY GO?Reactors and their surrounding equipment obviously were not made to fall apart the day after their 40th birthday.

But how long can they safely last?Other power generators have recognized the limits of design life. Though plants burning coal and other traditional fuels incorporate many similar systems to nuclear units -minus the atomic reactor -90 percent close within 50 years, according to Department of Energy data analyzed by the AP.Dana Powers, a member of the NRC's independent Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, said he believes nuclear plants can last for just one license extension, or up to 60 years total. "I doubt they go two," he added.Peter Lyons, a physicist and recent NRC commissioner, said several features of plants are extraordinarily hard to replace and could limit their lifetimes.

They include reactor vessels, electric cables set in concrete, and underground piping.And Brian Wirth, an engineer at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies how radiation makes metal prone to breaking, said the industry may not even have the ability to check for possible damage to reactor vessels for an 80-year life span.In an AP interview at NRC headquarters here, agency chairman Gregory Jaczko said decisions on license extensions are based on safety, not economics.

Former NRC chief Selin says extension decisions should be made "on a case-by-case basis." And industry executives and regulators acknowledge that more research is needed.In the past, though, both parties found ways to shift assumptions, theories and standards enough to keep reactors chugging.There's every reason to think they'll try to do it again.More nuclear stuff: More Watchdog: Posted in: Federal government

• Nuclear stuff -Public health

• Public safety ADVERTISEMENT You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response.Pinging is currently not allowed.Reader Comments Comments are encouraged, but you must follow our User Agreement.

1. Keep it civil and stay on topic.2. No profanity, vulgarity, racial slurs or personal attacks.3. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked.Home N Sports Business I Entertainment I Life I Travel I.Opinion I Real Estate I I I C DealI Classifieds Return to'Place An Ad I https://fdms.erulemaking.netlfdms-web-agency/component/contentstreamer?objectld=0900006480f6...

11 /1 6/2011