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GAO/NJ DEP Find Fault With Nuclear Plant Security

The U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations held a hearing at 2:00 pm today on Nuclear Regulatory Commission efforts to define and meet physical security standards at commercial nuclear power plants, and to release a Government Accountability Office report entitled, “Efforts Made to Upgrade Security, But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Design Basis Threat Process Should Be Improved.” This hearing is particularly important in light of the fact that nuclear power plants are clear security risks, especially the Oyster Creek plant on the Jersey shore.

Oyster Creek is the oldest operating nuclear power plant in the country that is scheduled to close at the end of its current license in 2009. The plant’s owner, Exelon Corporation, applied to the NRC to extend the plant’s license by 20 years in July 2005. Oyster Creek is one of 24 GE Mark I Boiling Water Reactors located in the U.S. that are the most vulnerable to terrorist attack because the spent fuel pool is located directly above the reactor and does not have the robust protection or design to withstand a major aircraft attack.

New Jersey Public Interest Research Group is part of a coalition of environmental, religious and public safety organizations that are calling on Governor Corzine to publicly call for the plant’s timely closure at the end of its current license and have also intervened in the license extension proceeding.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has filed to intervene in the proceeding. The NJ DEP recently submitted an appeal brief to the Atomic Safety Licensing Board regarding state intervention in the Oyster Creek license extension proceeding, which specifically refers to the vulnerability of Oyster Creek’s spent fuel pool to aircraft attack, noting that “Oyster Creek presents a prime target for terrorist attack because it is the most centrally located nuclear facility on the Atlantic seaboard comprised of the comparatively unreliable and vulnerable Mark I design.” The NJ DEP brief, attached to this email, also notes that, “Oyster Creek’s re-licensing proceeding has begun while it still awaits parts of the three-phase assessment of plant safety and security measures the Commission ordered after the events of 9/11.”

Considering the catastrophic consequences of a terrorist attack on a nuclear plant, it is simply irresponsible for the NRC not include aircraft attack in the Design Basis Threat for nuclear plants and to ignore the site-specific security risks of nuclear plants across the country.

And since nuclear plant owners applying for license extensions are required to submit a Severe Accident Mitigation Analysis (SAMA) as part of their application, it is doubly negligent that the NRC does not require a DBT analysis of an aircraft attack within the SAMA.

And finally, the GAO study found that the NRC, pressured by the nuclear industry, overruled staff recommendations in the draft DBT that required a full range of weapons that could be expected to be used in an attack on a nuclear facility. This is another chapter in the NRC’s history of putting profits before safety, and another reason for our state leaders, especially Governor Corzine, to stand up and speak out on behalf of New Jersey citizens.

NJ Department of Environmental Protection Appeal Brief to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (PDF)