A California Democrat and a New York Republican in areas with retired reactors are having another go at passing a House of Representatives bill aimed at increasing safety oversight at nuclear power plants undergoing decommissioning.
Reps. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) recently said they would reintroduce the Increasing Nuclear Safety Protocols for Extended Canisters Transfers Act (INSPECT Act). The measure calls for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to keep a resident inspector at plants in decommissioning until all spent nuclear fuel is transferred to dry storage from spent fuel pools.
“Since I arrived in Congress, ensuring the safe management and ultimate removal of spent nuclear fuel from sites like SONGS [the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station] has been one of my top priorities,” Levin said in a July 31 press release “By requiring an NRC inspector to remain on-site during the fuel transfer process, we can reduce the risk of another canister incident while continuing to work towards long-term storage solutions.”
Levin, who is the co-chair of Congressional Spent Nuclear Fuel Solutions Caucus, announced the reintroduction of the bill July 31, about seven years after the Aug. 3 2018 mishap transporting a spent fuel container at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in Pendleton, Calif. The California nuclear plant ceased operations in 2013.
The INSPECT Act builds on the recommendations made by the SONGS Task Force in which Levin formed in January 2019. Levin previously introduced the bill in 117th and 118th Congressional sessions but the prior attempts failed to get traction.
Lawler also co-sponsored the bill in the 118th Congressional session in 2023.
The bipartisan push of the bill comes from two representatives who both have a nuclear plant undergoing decommissioning in their respective districts.
Levin has SONGS in the 49th congressional district of California and Lawler has the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, N.Y., which ceased operations and began decommissioning in 2021, in the 17th congressional district of New York.
Levin has continually sought to have increased safety measures at decommissioning plants, particularly at SONGS. In 2019, Levin called on former NRC Kristine Svinicki to implement a resident inspector at SONGS after the nuclear regulator agency announced two violations that resulted from the near-canister drop incident in 2018.
