Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) on Wednesday charged that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not done enough to improve American nuclear power plants while implementing lessons learned from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi facility disaster in Japan.
During a hearing on the commission’s fiscal 2017 budget plan, Boxer listed a number of NRC decisions she believes “show the American people how little is actually being done post-Fukushima.” To date the agency has spent about $50 million on Fukushima response initiatives, which includes implementation of “flex equipment,” or mobile cooling equipment for American plants said to be the foundation to the U.S. response to the meltdowns at the Japanese facility in the wake of an earthquake and tsunami. The equipment includes a standard set of emergency-response vehicles, water pumps, motors, and generators meant to address one of the major Fukushima failures: reactor cooling capability.
Boxer criticized the NRC’s rejection of recommendations from the agency’s senior staff members, including improvements for the regulatory framework and upgrades to mitigation systems for seismically induced floods and fires. On the latter, NRC Chairman Stephen Burns said the commission rejected staff’s recommendation because “we felt that it was bound by the existing seismic protections in place.”
“I understand that,” Boxer said. “All of these are improvements, not status quo. You rejected doing this even though senior staff after Fukushima four years ago said to do this.”
“No,” Burns responded. “What they said to do is to evaluate whether there’s additional benefit. We’ve been responsive.”
Boxer also pressed Burns on mitigation improvements recommended for blackout events, which the NRC approved. The final rule on that item, which will lay out implementation strategy, is due by the end of 2016. Recommendation language suggests that facilities train employees for multi-unit and prolonged station blackout events; ensure that systems are equipped to deal with such events; and provide a means to power internal and external communication during such events, among other suggestions. Burns said the item is on schedule, and that some plants have already implemented improvements beyond what NRC staff recommended.
Boxer did not make it through the list of 12 recommendations she wanted to question Burns on, but she asked that the chairman respond in writing by the end of the week. The list of recommendations also included suggestions on updating nuclear plant design standards, improving hydrogen control, and enhancing spent fuel pool makeup capabilities.
“I know you’re taking me seriously,” she said. “That’s the difference between that and implementation.”
Inhofe Wants to Know Obama’s Intent on Vacancy
Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) questioned commissioners about the five-person board’s two vacancies. The first was vacated in 2014, when Democratic Chairman Allison Macfarlane resigned. A second seat will open this summer when Commissioner William Ostendorff steps down to take a teaching position at the U.S. Naval Academy.
The Obama administration has nominated Democrat Jessie Hill Roberson, vice chairman of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, to fill the first vacancy. Inhofe said during Wednesday’s hearing that it’s important to know the White House’s intentions on Ostendorff’s open seat before moving forward with Roberson’s nomination. Inhofe said “a good Democrat” has been nominated, but a Republican counterpart is now needed.
The Obama administration has not given any indication whether it will submit a nomination for Ostendorff’s seat.
