By John Stang
No U.S. facilities licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have to date experienced safety hazards arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said Monday in a report to Vice President Mike Pence.
NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki submitted a two-page summary of measures taken by the regulator during the public health emergency to Pence in his capacity of chairman of the federal novel coronavirus 2019 task force.
“I want to assure you that the NRC is taking all necessary steps to protect public health and safety, including efforts to strike the right balance of inspection and oversight activities while limiting opportunities for the spread of the virus,” Svinicki wrote in a brief introduction to the report.
The report arrived nearly a month after 86 advocacy groups sent their own letter to Pence, warning that the NRC’s anti-COVID measures have been inadequate. This week’s NRC summary touched on concerns raised by the organizations, without directly addressing their April 22 letter.
An NRC spokesman declined to answer further questions regarding the report to Pence, saying repeatedly that it speaks for itself. The appropriate Pence spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not have COVID-19 case numbers for its licensees.
Instances of novel coronavirus 2019 have been reported among the workforces of nuclear power plants in recent months. The situation has been highlighted by viral infections among workers for the two new reactors being built at the Vogtle facility in Georgia. There had been 230 cases of the viral disease there as of Monday, with 198 individuals already recovered, according to a local news report.
Since March, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been providing expedited consideration of regulatory exemptions to licensees, covering relief measures that might be necessary during the nation’s current health crisis. These have included exemptions to the work-hour limits for power reactor personnel and temporary delays for requirements such as medical exams and training for employees.
The concept is to help licensees juggle shifts and work hours to deal with social distancing requirements and personnel demands due to COVID-19, and to help nuclear facilities deal with scheduling and other matters affected by ripple effects from the pandemic.
“However, the agency’s standard for granting such regulatory relief remains unchanged and each request is reviewed on a case-by-case basis: the NRC may only grant exemptions that do not present an undue risk to public health and safety, are consistent with common defense and security, and are authorized by law,” the NRC said in its report to Pence.
The expanded work-hour limits allow personnel to stay on the job 16 hours in a 24-hour period, up to 86 hours every seven days, and up to 12-hour shifts for 14 consecutive days. The standard federal limits are working 16 hours in a 24-hour period, 26 hours in a 48-hour period, and 72 hours in a seven-day period.
Eight power plants have received work-hour exemptions, most recently reactor Unit 2 at DTE Electric’s Fermi facility in Michigan.
On Wednesday, the NRC approved an exemption from conducting quarterly and annual security training exercises due to social distancing concerns at Holtec International’s Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey. Holtec requested the exemption on May 7, and it will last until either Dec. 31, 2020, or when New Jersey lifts its pandemic restrictions, whichever comes first. The energy technology company bought the retired power plant last year for decommissioning, which is continuing during the pandemic.
At deadline Friday for RadWaste Monitor, no other exemption requests for nuclear decommissioning projects had been posted to the NRC website.
The agency last week approved its first COVID-19-related regulatory exemption for an independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) licensee. GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy has been granted an extension from May 31 to July 31 to file the license renewal application for its Morris Operation wet-pool facility in Grundy County, Ill.
The only pending exemption request posted to the NRC website for a spent fuel storage or transportation licensee involves Pacific Gas & Electric’s ISFSI for the decommissioned Humboldt Bay nuclear power plant in Eureka, Calif. On May 13, the utility asked for authorization to delay physicals and weapon and other training for its security personnel until the pandemic is over, due to social distancing concerns.
In its report to Pence, the NRC said resident inspectors are at their assigned reactor sites at least once every three business days, with COVID-19 monitoring among their duties, while checking the sites remotely the rest of the time. The agency is also keeping tabs on emergency preparedness measures at its licensees, including measures to account for COVID-19 concerns.
The regulator’s measures have not been sufficient, according to the April 22 letter to Pence coordinated by the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. The signatories, including the Sierra Club, Union of Concerned Scientists, Beyond Nuclear, and Public Citizen, said the NRC “has abdicated its legal responsibility to protect public health and safety during the COVID-19 public health emergency, and to insist upon immediate corrective action.”
The organizations added that the NRC has not enacted key measures to ensure nuclear reactors and fuel-cycle operations are managed safely, and that insufficient measures are in place to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The groups said reactor refueling operations brings in 1,000 to 2,000 outside workers to a community, which in numerous cases are in rural areas with few healthcare resources. That increases the chances of COVID contamination, the letter says.
It raised one specific on-the-ground concern, saying worker entry procedures at reactor sites require scans that use devices that are reportedly not being sanitized properly, prevent the use of masks, and do not enable adequate social distancing.
They urged Pence to create a COVID-19 nuclear task force with personnel from several federal agencies to develop protective plans for nuclear workers and reactor operations. Among other steps, the groups want a halt to all nuclear decommissioning and refueling operations until the proposed task force develops such plans, and called for COVID-related workforce exemptions already granted by the NRC to be reviewed and re-evaluated.
