U.S. Reactor Review Finds No Need for Quick Action, NRC Says

US Nuclear Power Plants

A review of U.S. nuclear power plants hasn’t found a need for quick changes in response to Japan’s reactor crisis, a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission official said. “To date, we have not identified anything that requires immediate action,” Bill Borchardt, the executive director for NRC operations, said today at a meeting at the agency’s headquarters in Rockville, Maryland.

U.S. regulators and lawmakers are examining the safety of the nation’s 104 commercial nuclear reactors after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami triggered a partial meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant.

The situation in Japan “has definitely improved,” although the plant isn’t yet “quite stable,” Borchardt said. “The Japanese are making progress.”

Destroyed power lines, flooded emergency diesel generators and depleted backup batteries knocked out the cooling systems at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant. Fuel rods in four of the plant’s six reactor buildings overheated, causing fires, explosions and radiation leaks in the world’s worst nuclear incident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

The utility, known as Tepco, has doused the damaged reactors with water for almost seven weeks to keep them cool.



Radiation levels at reactor No. 1 rose to their highest level since the earthquake and tsunami struck, Tepco said yesterday, citing readings from two robots sent into the building. The peak levels recorded at the plant, about 135 miles (220 kilometers) north of Tokyo, were more than four times the annual dose allowed for Japanese nuclear workers.

Cold Shutdown

It may take may take three to six months to complete a cold shutdown, where reactor core temperatures fall below 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit), Tepco said April 17.

In March, the NRC began a 90-day safety review of U.S. reactors in light of Japan’s crisis. The agency’s officials will provide an update on May 12, according to the NRC.


The agency approved regulations in 1988 that require nuclear plants to be able to restore electricity to cooling systems if there’s a “station blackout.” In the U.S., 44 reactors rely on batteries for backup power. The remaining 60 reactors can use “alternate” power sources, such as diesel generators or natural-gas turbines, according to the NRC.

Since the 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S., the NRC has also required nuclear plants to make changes so they can withstand disasters that cause “the complete loss of offsite power and all onsite emergency power sources,” according to an agency fact sheet.

Bloomberg