nuclear-news

concerns about USA nuclear plants safety

UPDATE 3-Democrats probe worst fears for U.S. nuclear power WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) By Roberta Rampton and Ayesha Rascoe– Democratic lawmakers raisedconcerns on Wednesday about whether regulators and the nuclear power industry are doing enough to ensure U.S. reactors can withstand worst-case scenarios in the wake of Japan’s crisis. Concerns focused on a Pennsylvania nuclear plant with thesame kind of reactor design as the Fukushima Daiichi facility,which Japanese authorities are still trying to bring undercontrol since a March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Some lawmakers argued that the U.S. plant could be at riskof meltdown in the case of a severe emergency. [ID:nL3E7F62A

 A Nuclear Regulatory Commission study on the Peach Bottom nuclear plant, owned by utilities Exelon (EXC.N) and Public Service Enterprise Group Inc's (PEG.N) PSEG Power, showed it would come "dangerously close to core damage" in a worst-case emergency, said Diana DeGette, a Democrat from Colorado.The modeling exercise was done on only two of the 104 U.S. nuclear plants, and draft results were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request from the Union of Concerned Scientists, which has been critical of the nuclear industry.....
The hearing came as documents released by an independent safety watchdog group showed the NRC had privately expressed doubts that some U.S. nuclear power plants are prepared for a Fukushima-scale crisis. [ID:nN06243412]  Internal NRC emails and memos -- also obtained by the Unionof Concerned Scientists -- questioned the adequacy of the back-up plans to keep reactor cooling systems running if off-site power were lost for an extended period......DeGette and other lawmakers at the hearing raised concerns bout the nuclear industry's reliance on back-up batteries for cooling, similar to the kind used at Fukushima, which last only four to eight hours before they need additional power. In the event of a major disaster in which power cannot be restored for days, they said the short lifespan of the batteries would place U.S. plants at risk.  "I am disturbed by both members of Congress and also some of the industry just making blanket statements that our nuclear energy system is safe and implying that we don't need to do anything further," DeGette told Reuters.

UPDATE 3-Democrats probe worst fears for U.S. nuclear power | Reuters

April 7, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA