Worried Yet?

On Wednesday, a federal court dismissed a challenge by environmentalists to the NRC’s renewal of the license to operate he Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant in Lacy Township, Ocean County. The 600-MWe plant, operated by Exelon, went on line in 1969 and is the oldest operating nuclear plant in the U.S.

Also on Wednesday, the New York Times reported on the failure of a critical safety system at Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear reactors.  The Oyster Creek plant is similar in age and design (GE) to the Fukushima reactors. 

The Fukushima reactors blew up after the plant was struck by a tsunami in March. The failed safety system is designed to prevent such explosions by venting explosives gasses (and radiation) outside the reactor containment buildings. However, the plant’s electronic venting controls were useless because the plant had lost power, and operators found that manual venting controls also failed.

[R]egulators in the United States and Japan will now need to determine if such systems at similar plants designed by G.E. need to undergo expensive and time-consuming retrofitting or redesign to allow them to function even in severe accidents.

The NRC is saying that similar emergency venting systems in U.S. plants are adequate, at least for now. “I don’t think we can conclude that anything needs to be done immediately,” an NRC official said.

The NRC is conducting special safety inspections at U.S. nuclear plants as a followup to the Fukushima disaster. The commission’s report on Oyster Creek is here. On May 26, the NRC will hold a public hearing on Oyster Creek’s 2010 safety performance. The hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Holiday Inn, 290 Route 37 East, Toms River.