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Nuclear reactor owners rush to extend licenses

Nuclear reactor owners rush to extend licenses  November 29, 2008By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteIt took just 20 minutes at a motel in Moon this month for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to report approvingly on FirstEnergy Corp.’s plans to manage its two aging nuclear power reactors in Shippingport, Beaver County, and clear the way for the facility’s 20-year license renewals……………………no relicensing requests have been denied.

The two Beaver Valley reactors are part of a big wave of aging atomic reactors hurrying to grab license renewals from the NRC many years before the end of their original 40-year licenses………………….citizen groups and industry watchdogs have criticized the process as perfunctory and inadequate to ensure safe operation and public health as the plants age……………”The industry has made a great deal of nuclear renaissance noise, but it hasn’t added a single watt of electricity from new power plants,” said Ray Shadis, a nuclear safety advocate……………………

The relicensing process also has come under sharp criticism by the NRC’s own Office of Inspector General in a September 2007 audit report that found some safety evaluations lacked necessary documentation and provided little evidence that inspectors had confirmed the integrity of aging safety systems they approved.

Similar concerns have been expressed by state officials in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania.

Nuclear reactor owners rush to extend licenses

December 1, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized