Markey accuses 4 NRC Commissioners of "regulatory meltdown" post-Fukushima

U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), Ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee and Senior Member of the Energy and Commerce CommitteeAs reported by Reuters in an article entitled "Private Spat within U.S. Nuclear Agency Laid Bare," U.S. Representative Ed Markey (D-MA, pictured left) has published a report entitled “Regulatory Meltdown: How Four Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners Conspired to Delay and Weaken Nuclear Reactor Safety in the Wake of Fukushima.” The report documents efforts by 2 Democratic appointees, William Magwood IV and George Apostalakis, and 2 Republican appointees, Kristine Svinicki and William Ostendorff, to block the creation of NRC's Near-Term Fukushima Task Force, as well as implementation at the 104 operating U.S. atomic reactors of its "lessons learned" from the triple reactor melt down -- and likely high-level radioactive waste storage pool fire -- at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

In a press release, Markey said “The actions of these four Commissioners since the Fukushima nuclear disaster has caused a regulatory meltdown that has left America’s nuclear fleet and the general public at risk. Instead of doing what they have been sworn to do, these four Commissioners have attempted a coup on the Chairman and have abdicated their responsibility to the American public to assure the safety of America’s nuclear industry. I call on these four Commissioners to stop the obstruction, do their jobs and quickly move to fully implement the lessons learned from the Fukushima disaster.”

Update on December 10, 2011 by admin

Politico has also reported on this story in an article entitled "Ugly Divide at NRC Pits Jaczko against Fellow Commissioners." Politico reports that Markey's report was published one business day earlier than originally planned, in response to U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-CA) Friday night release of an October letter, written by four of the NRC Commissioners to President Obama's Chief of Staff William Daley, complaining about Jaczko's leadership at the NRC. Issa, Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released the letter despite it clearly being marked "NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE."

All five NRC Commissioners are scheduled to testify before committees on both sides of Capitol Hill next week. On Wednesday, Dec. 14th beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern, the NRC Commissioners will appear before Issa's committee; the hearing will be webcast. On Thursday, Dec. 15th, also beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern, they will testify before U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer's Environment and Public Works Committee, which should also be webcast. 

Beyond Nuclear to testify at NRC regarding reactor earthquake and fire risks

NRC HQ, Rockville, MarylandOn Monday, December 12, 2011 from 2:30 to 4:30 PM EST, a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission petition review board will hear Beyond Nuclear staff and joint petitioners -- including Saprodani Associates, Not On Our Fault Line, Alliance for Progressive Values, and the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter -- who have called for emergency enforcement action, and full public hearing rights, on license changes to Virginia’s North Anna nuclear power plant following the August 23, 2011 earthquake of 5.8 magnitude, epicentered just 11 miles away. The meeting will be webcast and a telephone bridge line is being provided for up to 100 toll free lines for the public to listen in. Details for linking to the webcast and toll free telephone bridge line can be viewed by clicking on December 12 in NRC homepage calendar for public meetings.

On Tuesday, December 13, 2011, beginning at 9 AM EST, Beyond Nuclear Director of Reactor Oversight, Paul Gunter, will be testifying before the Chairman and Commissioners of the US NRC on what we believe to significant decades old fire protection risks at US reactors. These same risks potentially threaten control room operations for safe shutdown and cooling of reactors similar to the failure that led to the explosions and meltdowns at Fukushima. Go to this NRC link to view the webcast and Beyond Nuclear at the meeting.

NRC cites Limerick Unit 2 for emergency cooling and containment violations

NRC's file photo of Limerick nuclear power plant; it does not indicate whether or not the plant in the foreground is spiderwort mutated by radioactivity.The Mercury (Pottstown, PA) reports that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a "white finding" of "low to moderate safety significance" at the Limerick nuclear powere plant's Unit 2, owned and operated by Exelon Nuclear, regarding faulty valves “resulting in one of the plant’s safety systems, known as the Reactor Core Isolation Cooling system, being inoperable from April 23 to May 23." The faulty valves also rendered a Primary Containment Isolation Valve inoperable during the same time period, which “would be used during an accident to close off the plant’s containment building during a significant event in order to prevent the release of radioactivity into the environment.” As mentioned in NRC's press release on the safety violations, regulatory inspections will be increased. “Because the valves in question failed to fully shut, the majority of the cooling water from one of the plant’s safety systems would have diverted to the condenser rather than flow to the reactor,” NRC Region I Administrator Bill Dean said.

On Nov. 22nd, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) submitted a petition to NRC to intervene against Limerick's proposed 20 year license extension. An NRC commissioned report from 1982 found that a major accident at Limerick Unit 2 could cause 74,000 "peak early fatalities," 610,000 "peak early injuries," 34,000 "peak cancer deaths," and $197 billion in property damage. However, in the past 30 years, the surrounding population has grown to a whopping 8 million within 50 miles. Those property damages, adjusted for inflation, would now top $434 billion.

Kucinich: "FirstEnergy Tells Public One Thing, NRC Another; Nuke Plant Damage More than Previously Admitted"

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), a long time watchdog on Davis-BesseAfter a Dec. 6 meeting between his staff and representatives of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) issued a strongly worded statement critical of nuclear utility FirstEnergy's public assurances about the problem of cracking recently discovered in the Davis-Besse atomic reactor's shield building, an essential layer of radiological containment. 

“In response to inquiries by my staff, the NRC provided a detailed description of the cracking at FirstEnergy’s Davis-Besse plant. That description revealed that the cracks in the Davis-Besse ‘shield’ building are more numerous and more widely distributed than FirstEnergy has publicly portrayed,” said Kucinich.

Congressman Kucinich's office has prepared a comparison of FirstEnergy statements with known facts, and calls on readers to decide for themselves how bad the situation is.

Beyond Nuclear, along with Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste Michigan, and the Ohio Green Party, has intervened against the 20 year license extension sought by FirstEnergy for Davis-Besse, a problem-plagued 35 year old atomic reactor. David Lochbaum at Union of Concerned Scientists has also submitted allegations about the cracked shield building to the NRC.

"Fukushima's U.S. Nuclear Nightmare"

An article by John Raymond posted at his ZSpace Page features Beyond Nuclear's "Freeze Our Fukushimas" campaign to shut down the 23 Fukushima Daiichi twins in the U.S. -- General Electric Boiling Water Reactors of the Mark 1 design. Paul Gunter is quoted extensively on reactor risks, and Kevin Kamps on high-level radioactive waste storage pool risks.