Eighty-four of the 99 Nuclear Regulatory Commission-licensed nuclear plants are now in compliance with new emergency response safety equipment orders the agency has implemented through its Fukushima Lessons Learned initiative, according to NRC spokesman Scott Burnell.
Compliance is up from 70 percent in September, when the agency explained in documents that it anticipated the American nuclear fleet being 87 percent compliant by the end of 2016.
The foundation for the NRC’s response to the 2011 nuclear reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan is the rollout of flex equipment, which is standard, portable cooling gear now required at U.S. reactors. The Nuclear Energy Institute drew up the flex strategy, with NRC support.
The flex rollout includes a standard set of vehicles, water pumps, motors, and generators, as well the development of two national response centers in Memphis, Tenn., and Phoenix, Ariz. The agency has spent about $50 million on the project, which includes equipment and staffing support to implement the program. According to Platts, the nuclear industry has spent more than $3 billion on implementing measures to address Fukushima lessons learned, including plant modifications designed to prevent nuclear reactors and their spent fuel pools from overheating.
