Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff members will release a letter outlining how the commission plans to move forward with COVID-19-related work-hour and security inspection exemptions and other pandemic-related topics in late October.
The commission has granted 48 force-on-force exemptions since the start of the pandemic, nearly half of the exemptions granted overall, according to NRC spokesman Scott Burnell.
One of those 48 exemptions was granted at Holtec’s Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts in June. In its request application, Holtec said the mandated force-on-force exercise in which a security team must fight off a mock attack on a facility would be a risk to worker safety.
On March 30, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission made work-hour exceptions, allowing plant operators to work up to 86 hours in a work week, up from the standard 72-hour limit. The change was made to account for plants with workers out of commission due to COVID-19.
According to Thursday’s presentation, the NRC has also received several requests for work-hour exemptions since the start of the pandemic and anticipates more moving forward.
Overall, the commission has granted around 100 exemptions over the past seven months, according to Michael Mahoney, director of the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
