NRC accepts several key requested actions in public petition
January 10, 2012 A December 13, 2011 decision by a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) safety panel that accepts several key publicly requested actions regarding safety at US General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactors, was publicly noticed in the Federal Register dated January 3, 2012.
On April 13, 2011, one month after the Fukushima nuclear disaster began, Beyond Nuclear – later joined by 8,000 co-petitioners – formally submitted emergency action requests to an NRC safety review panel regarding safety concerns at the 23 US operating Fukushima-style reactors. The petition also included the permanently closed – but nuclear waste laden – Millstone nuclear power plant in Connecticut.
The NRC’s chief safety officer, Eric Leeds, agreed that the NRC will now review several key publicly requested actions including revoking federal approval of the current failed GE Mark I containment venting system; and ordering all Mark I operators to install backup emergency power systems to ensure cooling in the reactors’ densely packed rooftop irradiated fuel pools.