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New Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposal to ease safety requirements for new plants

New proposal from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would allow nuclear power plants to skip inspections and inservice testing
http://enformable.com/2012/09/new-proposal-from-the-nuclear-regulatory-commission-would-allow-nuclear-power-plants-to-skip-inspections-and-inservice-testing/
A new draft document released for public comment by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, would allow nuclear power plants to skip inservice testing and inspection of key safety components such as pumps, valves, welds, nozzles, vessels, and other components due to
impracticality, hardship, unusual difficulty, or when they would like to use a different approach for meeting requirements.

When making a decision on a request for relief, the NRC staff assesses the limitations of the examination or testing, evaluates the susceptibility to known degradation, mechanisms or failure modes, the consequences of a failure at the location where the test or

examination is impractical, and if any other inspections or tests should be implemented to compensate for the impracticality, according to the document.

The industry would also be allowed to submit alternative plans due to hardship regarding radiation exposure during an examination or test, which may offer utilities another argument for exemption if none of the other circumstances apply.  The licensee would need to communicate the radiation levels at the test or examination area in this event.

Public comments will be accepted through October 22nd, 2012. Source: Nuclear Regulatory Commission

September 13, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA