The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to resume force-on-force inspections in March next year, staff said in a meeting Monday featuring panelists from the Nuclear Energy Institute, NextEra, Entergy and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
After granting a number of exceptions to force-on-force inspections at nuclear reactors in response to the Covid-19 pandemic this year, Sabrina Atack, director of the commission’s division of security operations, said the regulator thinks March is a reasonable time to carry on with the inspections.
“That’ll give us enough time to solidify the contents of the temporary instruction and achieve internal alignment [and] have necessary conversations about planning,” Atack said. “And then hopefully we’ll be through the flu season, we’ll be in a more solid place in terms of knowing the risk and knowing how each site’s circumstances are looking in the spring.”
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) plans to hold inspections over a period of two weeks instead of one moving forward, Atack said. During the first week, which she referred to as the “A” week, the commission will visit the site, facilitate tabletop drills and plan for the inspection. During the second “B” week, the commission will conduct the force-on-force exercises.
The commission has granted at least 48 force-on-force exemptions since the start of the pandemic. Such excusals account for nearly half of the pandemic-related exemptions NRC has granted overall since March.
