By John Stang
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is allowing nuclear power plants to request exemptions for certain limits on work hours for personnel to help ensure continuity of operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A sudden and potentially long-term reduction in available facility staffing, such as that which may result due to the COVID-19 (public health emergency), was not considered during the rulemaking that established the 10 CFR 26.205(d) work hour controls,” the NRC said in a March 28 memo submitted to executives with the Nuclear Energy Institute, Entergy Nuclear, and Florida Power & Light. “Exemption from this requirement will provide licensees flexibility in management of personnel resources to maintain plant operational safety and security during a period when facility staffing may be reduced due to the COVID-19 (emergency).”
The document was posted to the agency’s website Monday. As of Friday, no nuclear power company had requested a staffing exemption.
The NRC predicts a three-day turnaround from a company submitting an application for an exemption to an emailed decision. The decision would be based on predicted drops in reactor operators and other key positions, plus the applicant’s plans for dealing with fatigued workers.
Requests for staffing exemptions should ensure reactor operators do not work more than 16 hours every 24 hours, and not more than 86 hours during a seven-day week. A minimum of a 10-hour break should take place between the expanded shifts. Twelve-hour shifts cannot be used for more than 14 consecutive days. There will be a minimum of six days off during a 30-day period.
Currently, the 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.
The requirements also pertain to spent-fuel operations and decommissioning because they are considered vital nuclear operations.
Licensees should make the requests as soon as developing COVID-19-related staffing problems become apparent and no less than 24 hours prior to a regulation-breaching shortage occurring, according to the memo.
Measures are to be taken to observe the behavior of the operators, and power plant personnel are to be able to put themselves in self-isolation, according to the NRC. An exemption period cannot last more than 60 days. However, licensees can request an extension prior to the end of 60-day period.
In a Thursday teleconference with industry stakeholders and members of the public, NRC officials said a utility or company should wait until the need for an exemption is apparent, and not seek an exemption as a generic precaution.
The United States, as of last fall, had 58 operational commercial nuclear power plants with 96 reactors, in 29 states, according to the Energy Information Administration.
On Tuesday, Exelon Generation confirmed that a worker at the Quad Cities nuclear power plant in Illinois had tested positive for COVID-19. Some workers on construction of two new reactors at the Vogtle plant in Georgia have been tested for infection, with none apparently testing positive.
Most Nuclear Regulatory Commission employees are working remotely for the time being, and recent and upcoming public meetings are being held via Skype. The agency is also receiving requests from its licensees for deferral of potentially risky projects during the outbreak — For example, Exelon Generation asked on Wednesday to push back a repair job at Quad Cities that would require personnel to work in close quarters.
Exelon and its peers have said they are taking steps to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus 2019 among their workforces while keeping their plants functioning. This includes tracking employees who come in close contact with an infected person or work in locations where a COVID-19-infected person had worked. Extensive telecommuting and social distancing measures are in play.
“The health and safety of our employees and contractors, and limiting the spread of the virus, are our utmost priorities, and we have strict protocols in place to address each case as it occurs,” Exelon said in a prepared statement Thursday to RadWaste Monitor.
Separately, the top members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Monday asked the NRC to delay collecting charges and fees from nuclear licensees for no less than 90 days due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member Tom Carper (D-Del.), along with Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), sent the letter. The NRC said Thursday it was working on a response.
“We ask you to provide additional time for annual charges to operating nuclear power plants, payments due by entities that hold a license to possess radioactive materials, and collection of fees for service, if such delay does not interfere with NRC’s mission. We believe the NRC should consider deferring the fee collection for at least 90 days,” the lawmakers wrote.
The letter notes the coronavirus-related economic hardships faced by utilities, medical facilities, and other NRC licensees – along with the ratepayers who provide the money power companies use to pay those fees. The lawmakers observed that the second-quarter fees for fiscal 2020 were due Tuesday.
Each power-producing reactor pays roughly $4.7 million annually in NRC fees, meaning the letter is asking that about $1.2 million for the second quarter be deferred for up to 90 days.
The NRC collects 90% of its annual funding from fees on licensees and services.
Economic headwinds, notably persistently low natural gas prices, have pushed an increasing number of nuclear plants into early retirement over the last decade. One of two remaining reactors at the Indian Point Energy Center in upstate New York is scheduled for closure on April 30, with the facility closing down entirely a year later.
The $2.2 trillion federal COVID-19 relief package signed into law on March 27 did not feature any measures that would directly assist the nuclear industry, according to its policy organization.
“We anticipate the government will take more actions for economic support, and we look forward to working with Congress and the Administration to provide reliable electricity as the nation responds to this pandemic,” a spokesperson for the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) said by email. “We know these conversations are more important than ever as nuclear power plants and the availability of electricity is critical to powering our hospitals and keeping the lights on in our homes and emergency centers.”
The nation’s 96 nuclear power reactors are on the federal government’s list of critical infrastructure providers, meaning they have continued operating even as countless other businesses have reduced or suspended operations during the pandemic.
