Nuclear Plants Fail to Report Defects, Report Says

[highplainsdem]

Source: Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON—A lack of clarity in federal law has resulted in a failure by nearly 30% of U.S. nuclear-power plants to report equipment defects that present substantial safety risks, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's inspector general.

The Office of Inspector General says nuclear plants are confused about what they are required to report to federal regulators because one section of the law, known as Part 21, requires them to report defects that can cause a loss of safety functions, while another section requires them to report only actual losses of safety functions.

"Licensees representing at least 28 percent of the operating reactor fleet do not, as standard practice, notify NRC of defects under Part 21 unless they are reportable under event reporting regulations," the report says.

If the issue isn't resolved, "the margin of safety for operating reactors could be reduced," the inspector general says.

-snip-

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704604704576220580502428622.html

[CountAllVotes]

1. how can they figure out if they have defects

If they don't even seem to know the location of all of them?

They'll learn soon enough however when the next big disaster hits!!

:kick:

[sandyo--ERA]

3. Locations of reactor or plant sites

In my opinion, we should know where all of them are located and how they fare on an index of compared safety..

Try the site that I learned from:

http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/what-we-need-to-learn-from-the-Japanese-Earthquake-and-U.S.-nuclear-power-plants by Cynthia Samuels

[CountAllVotes]

4. link not working

:(

[Marblehead]

2. unlike oil spills

nuclear releases are invisible