One senator on Wednesday questioned the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s consideration of cutting back on inspections of spent fuel storage facilities at the nation’s nuclear power plants.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) raised the issue during a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee featuring testimony from two senior NRC officials.
“When we have multiple nuclear reactors closing, and as a result additional spent fuel going into dry-cask storage, you proposed dramatic reductions in dry-cask storage inspections,” said Carper, the panel’s ranking member. “I just want to ask if you would explain … why you think it’s necessary to make this change at this time?”
Margaret Doane, NRC executive director for operations, replied: “It’s not a proposal yet. It’s under consideration.” She added that the agency is looking at trimming redundancies in its activities, but pledged “the inspection process, I can assure you, will remain adequately protective of public health and safety.”
The topic was otherwise not discussed during the hearing, a one-year update on the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act, which was signed into law in January 2019.
Carper’s question followed a letter last Friday in which three Democratic members of the House urged NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki not to trim those inspections.
The potential reduction is part of a general look at cutting expenses at the nuclear industry regulator. The concept is that the inspectors would focus on the higher-risk subjects and spend less time on lower-risk ones. So far, no formal proposals with cost figures have been unveiled. The agency aims to implement the cost-reduction by 2021.
The NRC is considering the recommendation from an internal working group of personnel from headquarters and its regional offices. The group recommended the NRC spend 35 hours per year on inspecting each loading operation of used nuclear fuel from cooling pools into long-term dry storage, down from the current 62 hours. That would reduce the dry storage site inspectors from 2.94 full-time equivalents (FTE) to 1.56, with one FTE equaling 1,500 hours per year of inspecting.
