Lawmakers called on NRC to not relicense Seabrook 20 years before current license expires

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressmen Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and John F. Tierney (D-Mass.), senior member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, today sent a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) calling on the agency to take immediate steps to address problems related to the dissolution of concrete in safety-related systems at nuclear power plants. A recent Boston Globe story reported that the concrete surrounding a safety-related tunnel at the Seabrook nuclear power plant in New Hampshire had lost 22 percent of its strength due to water seepage and saturation over the past decade. Despite this safety vulnerability, a November 18 notice from NRC to licensees indicated there are currently no regulatory requirements to utilize known methods to assess concrete in nuclear power plants nor provided any further direction to licensees to assess or address concrete degradation.

“This is a failure to take decisive regulatory action to address known safety vulnerabilities at nuclear power plants,” write Reps. Markey and Tierney in the letter to NRC Chairman Greg Jaczko. “Instead of taking mandatory action to address this issue, the NRC has chosen to merely issue what amounts to an ‘FYI’ to its licensees that does not require any ‘specific action or written response’.”

A copy of the letter to the NRC can be found below.

“The NRC should not allow cracks in concrete to seep through regulatory cracks,” said Rep. Markey in separate comments. “Safety structures at the Seabrook nuclear power plant already are experiencing alarming degradation.  The NRC must require inspections of all nuclear power plants to assess the presence of concrete degradation of safety-related structures at nuclear power plants and mitigate the effects of any such degradation.”

“This is a serious issue that requires meaningful and immediate action from the NRC,” said Rep. Tierney. “We cannot take any risks when it comes to the security and durability of our nuclear power plants and the safety of our families.”

In June, Reps. Markey and Tierney called on the NRC to deny a 20-year relicense application for the Seabrook nuclear power plant that would begin in 2030 and end in 2050. The lawmakers also call on the NRC to disallow all requests for 20-year license extensions that are filed as early as 20 years prior to license expiration for any operating U.S. nuclear reactors.

In the wake of the Fukushima meltdowns, Rep. Markey introduced legislation to overhaul nuclear safety. The Nuclear Power Plant Safety Act of 2011 will impose a moratorium on all new nuclear reactor licenses or license extensions until new safety requirements are in place that reflect the lessons learned from the Fukushima disaster. Rep. Markey’s office also released the report, “Fukushima Fallout: Regulator Loopholes at U.S. Nuclear Plants ”, detailing several concerns about NRC safety regulations following the Fukushima crisis.

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