The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was blasted by members of the Senate environment committee for failing to implement safety recommendations made after the Fukushima meltdown. The NRC leader was even accused by Senators of breaking the law.
“More has to be done,” Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the committee chair, told the NRC commissioners testifying at Wednesday’s hearing.
At one point, Boxer had her staff hold up a large chart listing each of the 12 safety recommendations proposed by the NRC itself in 2011, after an earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown at Japan’s now-infamous nuclear power plant.
“There isn’t one of these in place,” she told the commissioners.
“How you can say you’re proud that you helped us post-Fukushima is beyond my ability to understand.” Sen. Boxer said, speaking directly to NRC Chairwoman Allison Macfarlane.
Macfarlane offered to provide the committee with a different chart showing progress on each of the safety recommendations. She added that plants around the country have acquired a lot of extra equipment since 2011 and are better prepared to handle natural disasters and other scenarios that may come up.
Sen Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) questioned if that was really the case. She noted that flooding from Hurricane Sandy came within two feet of breaching the floodwalls at Indian Point nuclear facility, located 38 miles north of New York City. Had there been a problem at the plant, Gillibrand said “there would be no evacuation available” for millions of New Yorkers trapped by trees and downed power..
“You’re right to be concerned about these issues,” said Macfarlane. “We are, too.”
Sen. Boxer then turned to nuclear concerns in her state, at the Diablo Canyon power plant based in Avila Beach, Calif.. In August, the Associated Press reported that the NRC rejected a senior inspector’s recommendation that the plant be shutdown in light of the discovery of new fault lines that exposed it to stronger earthquakes than previously anticipated.
Asked why the plant isn’t shut down, Macfarlane said the commission had reviewed the inspector’s findings, but deemed the plant “safe to operate” with “no immediate safety concern.”
“Immediate is not good for this Senator,” Boxer shot back. “That’s what they said at Fukushima.”
The hearing turned particularly contentious when Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) brought up recently indicted Chinese hackers who are accused of stealing nuclear reactor trade secrets from the utility company Westinghouse. Sen. Markey said that at the time of the alleged theft, Westinghouse was hosting dozens of unescorted Chinese personnel at US nuclear reactors for months.
“I have been made aware of many NRC meetings, letters and presentations about this Chinese program,” he told the commissioners. “I have also learned that NRC security staff requested an increase in security requirement for the Chinese nationals, but others at NRC rejected them.”
Referring to legislation enacted last year that forces NRC to hand over non-public documents to Congress, Sen. Markey demanded the NRC turn over all records related to Westinghouse and its Chinese counterparts.
“You are in violation of the law if you do not provide that information to the committee,” Sen. Markey told the commissioners. “We have a right to know about the relationship between Westinghouse and the Chinese who are gaining access to nuclear facilities in the United States.”
Macfarlane responded saying she will provide information and briefings on the issue, but stopped short of providing the documents that Markey formally requested.
“That’s unacceptable,” he responded.
Sen. Boxer also lamented the commission’s refusal to hand over documents to the committee, calling it “unbelievable,” but promised that the committee will get the information eventually.
“We’ll get them because there’s whistleblowers in the agency helping us,” she said noting that senior officials at the NRC are calling the committee “all the time” saying that “safety is not being followed.”
Wednesday’s hearing was the tenth featuring NRC commissioners testifying about post-Fukushima recommendations. It was likely the final hearing for Macfarlane who announced in October that she will be leaving the commission at the end of the year.
