WTNH News Channel 8 / News / 1999

	NRC to eliminate 'watch list' of troubled nuclear plants NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) _ The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is overhauling its system for evaluating safety at the nation's nuclear power plants, eliminating the "watch list" of troubled facilities in favor of a scheme identifying plants that require national or regional attention. The list _ issued semiannually since 1986 _ will be replaced by a yearly announcement of plants needing "agency focus" and "regional focus," NRC spokesman Victor Dricks said Tuesday. Plants needing agency focus would require "the direct attention or the involvement of the NRC executive director for operations and the commission itself" because of serious problems, Dricks said. Plants with less serious problems would receive the attention of a regional administrator. All others would be categorized as requiring only "routine oversight." Critics said they feared the new system would mean less oversight for an industry they already consider a safety risk. "It's very bad. They're making it much more difficult to collect information about the reactors," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project, a nuclear watchdog group in Washington, D.C. "The NRC over the past few years has basically been relaxing their standards," Hauter said, suggesting Congress ought to investigate the decision. James Riccio, a Public Citizen staff attorney, said the watch list system wasn't the problem. "The people who were implementing it didn't have the spine to do so," Riccio said. "I'm not convinced that a new process is going to help the individuals at the NRC find their spine." Five of the nation's 103 nuclear power plants are currently on the watch list, the shortest roster since the system was instituted. The plants are Millstone Units 2 and 3 in Connecticut, and LaSalle Units 1 and 2 and the Clinton plant in Illinois. Dricks said he did not know how many of those facilities might appear on the agency focus list, but said an announcement would be made Thursday during a briefing at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md. The new process will have inspectors concentrating their efforts on "those things that most directly affect the safety of a plant" rather than a laundry list of problems, Dricks said. "That doesn't mean that we're going to be doing a less thorough job of inspecting. What it means is that we're going to be focusing on those things that matter the most," Dricks said. Although some of the plants on the watch list will require agency focus, NRC officials said the two were not comparable measures. The new system will require fewer inspectors, but Dricks said he did not know how much cheaper the new system might be. One reason for the change, Dricks said, is that NRC officials believe the nuclear industry is safer than ever before. The number of times plants have automatically shut down because of safety problems has decreased from an average of five per year in the mid-1980s to one every two years in the '90s, the NRC said. Also, across the industry, plant workers have been accidentally exposed to less radiation since 1985. "We're now dealing with a mature industry," Dricks said. "They have learned a lot of lessons as they have gone along." But Riccio said the nation's nuclear power plants are getting more dangerous as they age, and he fears deregulation of the power industry could prompt operators to cut corners on safety. In June, the NRC also is scheduled to test for six months a new way of inspecting and evaluating plant performance. The program will be tried at plants in seven states: Hope Creek and Salem 1 and 2 in Delaware; Fitzpatrick in New York; Shearon Harris in North Carolina; Sequoyah 1 and 2 in Tennessee; Prairie Island 1 and 2 in Minnesota; Quad Cities 1 and 2 in Illinois; and Ft. Calhoun and Cooper in Nebraska. Today's News Page. WTNH Home Page. ©1999 WTNH/WTNH-DT A LIN station.

NRC to eliminate 'watch list' of troubled nuclear plants
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) _ The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is overhauling its system for evaluating safety at the nation's nuclear power plants, eliminating the "watch list" of troubled facilities in favor of a scheme identifying plants that require national or regional attention.

The list _ issued semiannually since 1986 _ will be replaced by a yearly announcement of plants needing "agency focus" and "regional focus," NRC spokesman Victor Dricks said Tuesday.

Plants needing agency focus would require "the direct attention or the involvement of the NRC executive director for operations and the commission itself" because of serious problems, Dricks said.

Plants with less serious problems would receive the attention of a regional administrator. All others would be categorized as requiring only "routine oversight."

Critics said they feared the new system would mean less oversight for an industry they already consider a safety risk.

"It's very bad. They're making it much more difficult to collect information about the reactors," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project, a nuclear watchdog group in Washington, D.C.

"The NRC over the past few years has basically been relaxing their standards," Hauter said, suggesting Congress ought to investigate the decision.

James Riccio, a Public Citizen staff attorney, said the watch list system wasn't the problem.

"The people who were implementing it didn't have the spine to do so," Riccio said. "I'm not convinced that a new process is going to help the individuals at the NRC find their spine."

Five of the nation's 103 nuclear power plants are currently on the watch list, the shortest roster since the system was instituted. The plants are Millstone Units 2 and 3 in Connecticut, and LaSalle Units 1 and 2 and the Clinton plant in Illinois.

Dricks said he did not know how many of those facilities might appear on the agency focus list, but said an announcement would be made Thursday during a briefing at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md.

The new process will have inspectors concentrating their efforts on "those things that most directly affect the safety of a plant" rather than a laundry list of problems, Dricks said.

"That doesn't mean that we're going to be doing a less thorough job of inspecting. What it means is that we're going to be focusing on those things that matter the most," Dricks said.

Although some of the plants on the watch list will require agency focus, NRC officials said the two were not comparable measures. The new system will require fewer inspectors, but Dricks said he did not know how much cheaper the new system might be.

One reason for the change, Dricks said, is that NRC officials believe the nuclear industry is safer than ever before. The number of times plants have automatically shut down because of safety problems has decreased from an average of five per year in the mid-1980s to one every two years in the '90s, the NRC said.

Also, across the industry, plant workers have been accidentally exposed to less radiation since 1985.

"We're now dealing with a mature industry," Dricks said. "They have learned a lot of lessons as they have gone along."

But Riccio said the nation's nuclear power plants are getting more dangerous as they age, and he fears deregulation of the power industry could prompt

operators to cut corners on safety.

In June, the NRC also is scheduled to test for six months a new way of inspecting and evaluating plant performance.

The program will be tried at plants in seven states: Hope Creek and Salem 1 and 2 in Delaware; Fitzpatrick in New York; Shearon Harris in North Carolina; Sequoyah 1 and 2 in Tennessee; Prairie Island 1 and 2 in Minnesota; Quad Cities 1 and 2 in Illinois; and Ft. Calhoun and Cooper in Nebraska.

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