convore.json/groups/socal-martial-law-alerts/nrc-renews-license-for-nations-largest-nuclear-plant-despite-a-long-history-of-problems/messages.json

[{"user_id": 11626, "stars": [], "topic_id": 21522, "date_created": 1303862982.1269059, "message": "http://blogs.forbes.com/oshadavidson/2011/04/22/nrc-renews-license-for-nations-largest-nuclear-plant-despite-a-long-history-of-problems\r\n\r\nhttp://blogs.forbes.com/oshadavidson/2011/04/22/nrc-renews-license-for-nations-largest-nuclear-plant-despite-a-long-history-of-problems\r\n\r\n\r\nNRC Renews License for Nation\u2019s Largest Nuclear Plant, Despite a Long History of Problems\r\n\r\nOSHA GRAY DAVIDSON\r\n\r\nForbes\r\n\r\nApril 22, 2011\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAnimated Diagram of a Pressurized Water Reactor (Image via Wikipedia)\r\n\r\nThe Nuclear Regulatory Commission has renewed operating licenses for an additional 20-years for the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station outside of Phoenix, Arizona. Palo Verde is the nation\u2019s largest generating station, with three pressurized water reactors, each capable of producing 1335 megawatts for a combined capacity of just over 4,000 MW.\r\n\r\nPalo Verde, which began operating in the mid-8os, has racked up a large number of safety violations over the years.\r\n\r\nIn a 2007 investigation, the NRC found that \u201ccost controls had been viewed as more important than safety,\u201d based on interviews with workers at Palo Verde.\r\n\r\nA compromised culture of safety\r\n\r\nIn the 1st quarter of 2005, the NRC downgraded all three units at Palo Verde for safety concerns. Palo Verde reactors went from the top of the NRC\u2019s safety designations down two notches on a five notch scale. This was done after the NRC learned that for a dozen years, starting in 1992, plant workers had been draining water from emergency cooling pipes, in violation of NRC policy.\r\n\r\nThe NRC ruled that the plant operators had \u201cincreased the probability of a malfunction of equipment important to safety\u201d imposed a $50,000 civil penalty, and moved the plant into the \u201cDegraded Cornerstone\u201d column of the Commission\u2019s Action Matrix, which indicates heightened levels of scrutiny for problem nuclear plants.\r\n\r\nIn a January 6, 2006 document, the NRC listed several other problematic \u201cevents\u201d at Palo Verde during this same time period.\r\nSteam generator tube leak in Unit 2 in February 2004.\r\nResponse to loss of offsite power in all three units in June 2004.\r\nFollowup on identification of significant voiding in the Emergency Core Cooling System at all three units in August 2004.\r\nFollowup on identification of potential design issue in Emergency Core Cooling System at all three units in October 2005.\r\nFollowup on operating at reduced power due to high pipe vibrations in Unit 1 in December 2005.\r\n\r\nBottom of the Nuclear Barrel\r\n\r\nLater in 2006, Palo Verde\u2019s reactor number 3 was downgraded again, joining just three of the 104 nuclear power units in the nation in the \u201cMultiple/Repetitive Degraded Cornerstone Column.\u201d That is the lowest ranking a plant can have without being shut down. The NRC stated that reactor 3 had been downgraded in part because the plant operators hadn\u2019t adequately addressed problems that had already been pointed out, even after multiple warnings.\r\n\r\nThe two other units at Palo Verde remained in the \u201cDegraded Cornerstone Column,\u201d \u2014 with reactors from just one other plant.\r\n\r\nBy March, 2007, Palo Verde had become the least safe plant in the United States, according to NRC rankings.\r\n\r\nReactor number 3 remained in the worst \u2014 but still operable \u2014 category, the only unit in the nation with that designation. Units 1 and 2 were still in the \u201cDegraded Cornerstone Column.\u201d They, too, were alone in that category.\r\n\r\nDavid Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer at the Union of Concerned Scientists, questioned the NRC\u2019s lack of action in getting Palo Verde\u2019s owner\u2019s to comply with safety rules.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt is abundantly clear and extensively documented,\u201d wrote Lochbaum, \u201cthat Palo Verde\u2019s owner is either scoffing at this federal regulation or is doing its best, but falling way short. As a direct result, the public has been exposed to undue risk (and the company\u2019s stockholders have been poorly served).\u201d\r\n\r\nIn a slide show presented by the NRC at a public hearing in 2007, the NRC made the following observations.\r\nPerformance (at Palo Verde) has declined since 2003.\r\nMultiple human performance and corrective action program problems exist at Palo Verde.\r\n[Problems were caused by] years of lowering safety culture.\r\nProblems were not consistently identified, evaluated, and corrected.\r\nControl Room operators did not always demonstrate high standards associated with nuclear plant operations.\r\n\r\nAll three units at Palo Verde are currently in compliance with NRC regulations.\r\n\r\nThis is the second time the NRC has relicensed a nuclear power plant since an earthquake and tsunami crippled the Japanese Fukushima nuclear power plant on March 11. The NRC relicensed  the controversial Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant on March 21.\r\n\r\nWhile the NRC is scheduled to meet on May 12 to discuss a safety review of U.S. nuclear plants in light of the Fukushima disaster, the Commission continues to relicense plants. Some countries, such as Germany, have imposed a moratorium on license extensions until a \u201clessons learned\u201d study of the Japanese accident can be completed.", "group_id": 3920, "id": 820094}]