http://www.beyondnuclear.org/nuclear-reactors-whatsnew/2016/4/13/nrc-gives-entergy-pass-on-falsifying-fire-safety-reports-at.html
[links in on-line article]
NRC gives Entergy pass on falsifying fire safety reports at Waterford
and Pilgrim nuclear power stations
The New Orleans-based Entergy Nuclear Corporation didn’t even get a slap
on the wrist from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for
“willfully” falsifying fire safety inspections at its Waterford nuclear
power station in Louisiana and Pilgrim station in Massachusetts.
Instead, the NRC waived enforcement actions for violations of federal
reporting requirements that could have resulted in large fines and
criminal felony charges. Entergy contract workers and operations
managers were caught falsifying “fire watch” reports in zones of the
nuclear power plants that fail to meet federal fire safety requirements
for protecting safe shutdown electrical cable from fire damage in the
event of an accident. Rather than replace bogus fire barrier systems on
electrical circuits vital to safely shutting down the reactor following
an accident, the NRC has allowed reactor operators to send out hourly
patrols in these unprotected fire zones. The fire watch personnel are
required to certify that patrols were conducted. When the falsified
fire watch records were reported, Entergy management sought to cover it up.
The NRC’s own safety studies show that fire is the largest risk
contributor initiating a reactor melt down. Yet, for decades now, the
NRC has colluded with industry to save the cost of installing qualified
passive fire barriers around electrical cable trays, conduits and boxes
to make nukes safer from fire. Instead, the NRC and industry have
settled on “compensatory actions” like these least-cost roving fire
watch patrols that are in the unprotected area maybe five minutes of the
hour leaving the area left unwatched for the other 55 minutes. The
patrols don’t actually protect safety-related electrical cable like a
working fire barrier would but report the fire to on-site fire fighting
crews. Meanwhile, control of shutting down the reactor and cooling down
the tremendous amount of residual heat could be lost initiating fuel damage.
The problem is not just that fire watches don't adequately compensate
for reliable, tested fire barrier systems or the fact that operators are
cheating on conducting fire patrols. The root cause, now decades old,
is that the NRC is “willfully” ignoring enforcement of federal fire
safety laws that came about from the a very real fire at the Browns
Ferry nuclear power plant.
Where a daycare facility would get promptly shutdown for fire code
violations that jeopardize children’s safety, the NRC provides nuclear
power plants with no real compliance standard at all jeopardizing entire
regions.
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