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US Regulator Issues First Post-Fukushima Safety Orders

By David Dalton
12 March 2012

12 Mar (NucNet): The US nuclear regulator has issued two orders to operators all commercial nuclear plants in the country asking them to better protect safety equipment installed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and to install improved equipment for monitoring water levels in spent fuel pools.

The first order also calls on operators to obtain “sufficient equipment” to support all reactors at a given site simultaneously.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said the orders begin implementation of several recommendations for improving safety learned from the accident at Japan’s Fukushima-Daiichi in March 2011.

A third order applies only to boiling water reactors that have “Mark I” or “Mark II” containment structures. These reactors must improve venting systems – or for the Mark II plants, install new systems – that help prevent or mitigate core damage in the event of a serious accident.

Plants have until 31 December 2016, to complete modifications and requirements of all three orders, the NRC said.

The NRC said it will also issue a detailed information request to every operating US commercial nuclear power plant, and certain parts will apply to reactors currently under construction or recently licensed.

The request covers several topics, including:

• Re-analysing earthquake and flooding risks using the latest available information;

• Conducting earthquake and flooding hazard “walkdowns” where engineers examine a plant’s ability to meet requirements;

• Assessing plant staffing levels needed to fill emergency positions in response to events simultaneously affecting all reactors at a given site.

Each section of the request includes schedules for plants to provide information to the NRC.

Details of the orders will be posted on the NRC’s Fukushima-Daiichi website:

http://www.nrc.gov/japan/japan-info.html

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