U.S. Nuclear Power Plant Equipment Defects Are Going Unreported: NRC Inspector General Report

WASHINGTON -- A new report says companies that operate U.S. nuclear power plants are not reporting some equipment defects that could create safety risks.

The report by the inspector general at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission also raises questions about the agency's oversight, saying reporting guidelines for the nuclear industry are "contradictory and unclear."

The report, released Thursday, says that unless the NRC takes steps to improve its reporting guidelines, "the margin of safety for operating reactors could be reduced."

The report says NRC inspectors found at least 24 instances where possible equipment defects were identified but not reported to the agency from December 2009 through September 2010.

NRC staff reviewed a draft of the report but opted not to provide formal comments. An NRC spokesman declined to comment.

Comments

[DavidSilverberg]

11:09 AM on 04/05/2011

We also wrote about this important story here:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/305371

[kyrose777]

10:39 AM on 03/28/2011

When we succeed in destroying our home, where can we run to? There is no where to run and no where to hide.

[Kenz300]

12:38 PM on 03/25/2011

Nuclear plants are not reporting all the problems........ Where are the regulating agencies?
Oh - I forgot the Republicans want to deregulate everything because business knows best.

Big money and politics.... Big business, billionaires and greed..... and the middle class
in America continues to shrink as the top 2% get richer

[kyrose777]

10:37 AM on 03/28/2011

so true, and the big oil companies are not reporting all the problems. The blow out preventers turn out to have a build in flaw but what is being done? Nothing but new permits to drill even deeper. Where is the logic in this?

[vmf211]

02:32 AM on 04/05/2011

Your proof is where?

Hey DEM jimmy carter was a nuclear engineer

[lastpost]

07:12 AM on 03/25/2011

“Equipment Defects Are Going Unreported”
We already have the example of an anonymous reporting website for aircraft related concerns. Plus, the ubiquitous Wikileaks. Is it beyond the wit of man (don’t answer that), to create a amalgam of the two entitled “Plutoniumnoleaks”?

[Chris Utzig]

01:35 AM on 03/25/2011

Yeah, big surprise. The government caved to industry pressure in the 90's and threatened to severely cut funding to the NRC... Now we are stuck with a de facto self regulation system. Nuclear has never been a viable option, and it has only gotten worse over the last 20 years.

Now is the time to change this.

[vmf211]

02:33 AM on 04/05/2011

well that would have been when Bill Clinton was in charge.

[Klarsonent]

11:27 PM on 03/24/2011

Are we surprised? I think not. It's all about the dollar.

[CJCalgirl]

10:01 PM on 03/24/2011

Is anyone surprised?

[Groobiecat]

09:43 PM on 03/24/2011

"NRC staff reviewed a draft of the report but opted not to provide formal comments. An NRC spokesman declined to comment."

That's surprising. Considering, you know, how the NRC has not rejected a nuclear power plants operating permit in, say, oh, wait--*ever.* I live 6 miles from Vermont Yankee. A couple of years ago, the cooler tower suddenly collapsed. Last year, the plant's parent company execs misled the state's congress about the safety of the plant, which experienced leaks of tritium from pipes that were "not there." Um, yeah.

Anyone (including Obama) who thinks nukes are safe, should watch "Chernobyl Heart": http://www.youtube.com/user/groobiecat?feature=mhum -- the ones who suffer the most are the children. Ugh.

[Egalitare]

08:46 PM on 03/24/2011

Nuclear Power doesn't concern me nearly as the people who seem intent on creating the next big accident with it by taking short cuts to minimize short term costs and walk away with as much upfront profit as possible.

[katylied]

09:16 PM on 03/24/2011

When profit is king, we're all serfs...

[seachange525]

04:08 PM on 03/31/2011

Precisely.

[vmf211]

02:34 AM on 04/05/2011

wow how profound?

[ErnestineBass]

01:05 AM on 03/25/2011

How timely...an electrician was charged this week for taking short cuts at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant #2 currently under construction.

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/mar/25/electrician-charged-with-falsifying-nuclear-safety-reco/

I grew up within 35 miles of this plant.

[cadawa]

08:27 PM on 03/24/2011

Neither were the Japan nukes reporting any 'plant equipment defects'. The nukes that were just renewed for another 20 years were not built to last beyond today. Many of them are leaking which I guess doesn't qualify as 'equipment defect'.
This elaborate, inherenty unsafe technology that produces power by boiling water (how many safe, effective way are there to do this?) must be mothballed if for no other reason that there is no one on this planet with the ability or the integrity to operate it safely.
When you push equipment (poorly designed to begin with) beyond it's useful life, then it becomes a very large, very dirty powder keg waiting with the destructivr power of tens of thousands of atomic bombs.

[vmf211]

02:36 AM on 04/05/2011

equipment failure's for what tsunami or earthquake prevention?

These plants cannot expolde like an atomic bomb so don't worry

[Angie Cordeiro]

07:34 PM on 03/24/2011

"Low level radioactivity includes the on-going amount of
radiation released from the everyday operation of the
world's 433 nuclear power plants, plus leaks and accidents...

OZONE BREAKDOWN
LOSS OF OXYGEN GLOBALLY
MUTATED VIRUS AND BACTERIA
WEAKENED IMMUNE SYSTEM
INFERTILITY

TECHNOLOGY'S CURSE Diet for the Atomic Age by Sara Shannon, the definitive book on radiation protection, 355 pages
with 18 pages of references, is available from www.Earthpulse.com or telephone [phone].

I have no financial association with the above; just passing on INFORMATION ;-)

[wakeisland]

07:19 AM on 03/25/2011

ozone break down,loss of oxygen from nuclear power,mutated virus and bacteria are you kidding me you have no proof but left wing talking points

[alvdh1]

08:26 AM on 03/26/2011

I will take the left wing comments long before I will accept profit motivated nuclear talking points from a paid nuclear shill such as yourself wakeisland.

[Longtimeliberal]

07:17 PM on 03/24/2011

Thank goodness for IG's

[gaydood]

07:08 PM on 03/24/2011

how come posts are getting booted?

[rockyroad]

07:48 PM on 03/24/2011

New management. Blame Arianna for selling out. . . or just blame AOL moderators.

[rockyroad]

07:50 PM on 03/24/2011

Think the new regime is also deciding who can fan and friend.

[Barista]

07:04 PM on 03/24/2011

Here is an link to an article about Comanche Peak Nuclear Facility in Central Texas. The article correctly points out that the management of the company is deficient and that the company itself is on the verge of bankruptcy:

http://mactorquil.com/

Mr. Torquil gives citations for all his points. They check out.

[Angie Cordeiro]

07:29 PM on 03/24/2011

The probable demise of the stock market; the link below is not about predictions yet facts:
Eleven pages of FACTS:

AN OVERVIEW
HAZARDS OF LOW LEVEL RADIOACTIVITY
by Sara Shannon

http://www.teleamerica.net/PDF/HoLLR.pdf

[rockyroad]

07:01 PM on 03/24/2011

If there were plans to build a nuke plant in your back yard, would you support it?

BoA has decided to plow down foreclosed upon homes in Detroit to build parks, what if they filled up those areas with nuclear reactors, would anyone have a problem? It would create jobs and Detroit is not on a fault line that I'm aware of.

[alvdh1]

08:28 AM on 03/26/2011

Rockyroad,

I think you are getting a brain freeze from your brand of ice cream based on your comments in spite of the Japanese nuclear disaster.