|
NRC: 'Practical' Measures Protect Reactors from Aircraft Impact |
|
|
|
|
by Mickey McCarter
|
|
Wednesday, 20 August 2008 |
The agency argues mandatory safeguards for all reactors are not necessary to protect public health and safety
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has established processes to protect nuclear reactors from a terrorist attack using aircraft like the attacks of 9/11, NRC spokesman Scott Burnell told HSToday.us, through assessments of existing power plants and improved designs for new power plans.
Burnell defended the NRC's efforts to protect nuclear plants from aircraft attacks in reaction to a bill (HR 6816) that would require all new reactors to use safeguards to prevent the release of radiation under a scenario where a large commercial aircraft crashed into them, introduced by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) on August 1.
"Since 9/11, the NRC has upgraded security requirements including rewriting our regulations such that the enhanced requirements that we put into place after 9/11 will apply to any new reactors that might be licensed and built," Burnell commented.
"We also have put in place requirements at existing reactors where the plant has to have procedures and resources in place to effectively deal with the effects of explosions and large fires from any source on their premises," he added.
The NRC is in the midst of creating a new regulation that would require companies designing reactors to conduct assessments of their designs in order to best mitigate the impact of a large commercial aircraft on the reactor, after collecting comments on a proposal published in the Federal Register last October. Such assessments would be used to determine any "practical enhancements" that builders should incorporate into the design, Burnell said.
The US National Laboratories and the Department of Energy have been cooperating with the NRC to study scenarios of the impact of a strike by a large commercial aircraft on an operating nuclear power plant since 9/11, Burnell stressed. The results of those studies have concluded the possibility of any release of radioactive material into the surrounding environment after an aircraft strike is very small.
"There is no doubt that such an event will cause a lot of industrial damage at the site, but our analyses show that even that amount of damage does not lead to a high likelihood of anything reaching the environment from the reactor core," Burnell stated.
The results of those studies as well as additional information has been shared with Congress in the past, he added.
New designs are to incorporate enhancement such as passive security features, which would make use of natural principles to bar interference from people or machines. For example, designs may make use of gravity by positioning an emergency supply of water above a reactor vessel, utilizing gravity to move the water into the vessel in the event of an emergency.
"The new designs, if they are licensed and built, will be even more robust than today's reactors," Burnell declared. "It's not a case of coming up with some sort of standard where you say a reactor is aircraft-proof. At some point, even if you say something is proof against a certain phenomenon, you can always come up with something beyond the design."
The NRC, as a regulatory agency, does not itself assess the risks against various nuclear reactors nor does it make any determinations as to which reactors may pose a greater threat than others if attacked by terrorists, Burnell said. The agency does work with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which does assess the risk of many critical infrastructure systems, to coordinate protective measures through law enforcement, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other authorities.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) have established real-time communications with the NRC to deliver warnings of any aircraft that travel off-course and thus pose a threat to any nuclear reactors. The agency can relay notifications from FAA and NORAD to affected reactors quickly, prompting them to take any necessary steps to prepare a reactor for the threat of an aircraft impact, Burnell said.
|
Mickey McCarter |
| About the author: |
| eNewsletter Editor/Senior Washington Correspondent,
is a journalist with more than a decade of experience in reporting
on
military affairs and information technology.
|
| Read More >> | |
Columns 
