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‘Irreparable’ safety issues: All US nuclear reactors should be replaced, ‘Band-Aids’ won’t help
All 104 nuclear reactors currently operational in the US have irreparable safety issues and should be taken out of commission and replaced, former chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Gregory B. Jaczko said.
The comments, made during the Carnegie International Nuclear
Policy Conference, are “highly unusual” for a current or former
member of the safety commission, according to The New York Times.
Asked why he had suddenly decided to make the remarks, Jaczko
implied that he had only recently arrived at these conclusions
following the serious aftermath of Japan’s tsunami-stricken
Fukushima Daichii nuclear facility.“I was just thinking about the
issues more, and watching as the industry and the regulators and
the whole nuclear safety community continues to try to figure out
how to address these very, very difficult problems,” which were
made more evident by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan,
he said. “Continuing to put Band-Aid on Band-Aid is not going to
fix the problem.”
According to the former chairman, US reactors that received
permission from the nuclear commission to operate for an additional
20 years past their initial 40-year licenses would not likely last
long. He further rejected the commission’s proposal for a second
20-year extension, which would leave some American nuclear reactors
operating for some 80 years.
Jaczko’s comments are quite significant as the US faces a mass
retirement of its reactors and nuclear policy largely revolves
around maintaining existing facilities, rather than attempting to
go through the politically hazardous process of financing and
breaking ground on new plants.
Though the US maintains a massive naval nuclear program, all of the
country's current civilian reactors began construction in 1974 or
earlier, and a serious incident at Three Mile Island in 1979, along
with an economic recession, essentially caused new projects to be
A modest revival of enthusiasm for nuclear power emerged in the
early part of the last decade, leading to the construction of four
reactors at existing facilities within the last three years, slated
to be completed by 2020. Despite the lack of new projects, the US
is still the world’s biggest producer of nuclear power, which
represents 19% of its total electrical output.
Fittingly, Jaczko’s comments came during a panel discussion of the
Fukushima incident, which has brought greater attention to aging US
reactors - some of which were quite similar to the General
Electric-designed models overwhelmed by the earthquake and
subsequent tsunami in 2011.
In response to those comments, Marvin S. Fertel, president and
chief executive of the Nuclear Energy Institute, told the Times
that the country’s nuclear power grid has, is, and will operate
safely.“US nuclear energy facilities are
operating safely,” said Fertel. “That was the case prior to Greg
Jaczko’s tenure as Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman. It was
the case during his tenure as NRC chairman, as acknowledged by the
NRC’s special Fukushima response task force and evidenced by a
multitude of safety and performance indicators. It is still the
case today.”
Since the first nuclear reactor went operational in the US, there
have been very few fatal incidents at nuclear power facilities,
though there were a number of high profile stories written over the
inherent dangers of large nuclear reactors during the mid-1970s.
One of the most recent incidents at a US reactor was in April of
2013, when an employee was killed at the Arkansas Nuclear One plant
while moving part of a generator.
Jaczko served as chairman of the nuclear regulatory agency since
2009, and according to the Times resigned in 2012 following
conflicts with colleagues. He was seen as an outlying vote on a
number of safety issues, and had advocated for more stringent
safety improvements during his tenure.
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