Nuclear safetyMichigan’s Palisades nuclear power plant has significant safety issues

Michigan's Palisades nuclear plant // Source: nrc.gov

A recent report  by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) lists the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Michigan as one of three plants in the United States with significant safety episodes or “near-misses” over the last three years.

The report states that many of the security episodes at the Palisades, Wolf Creek, and Fort Calhoun plants happened as a result of safety problems that have not been addressed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission(NRC).

According to Reuters,the UCS “has long been critical of the nuclear industry and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).”

MLive reports that the Palisades, Fort Calhoun, and Wolf Creek plants have combined for ten “near-misses” in the last three years, while in the same time span, 104 nuclear reactors across the United States combined for fifty-six near-misses.

According to a press release from the UCS, the palisades plant was a plant where “the NRC routinely fails to enforce its rules governing reactor coolant leaks.”

For example, the Palisades plant in Michigan “was leaking reactor coolant for twenty-eight consecutive days last summer,” the release from the UCS reads. “The NRC had the authority to slap the owner with a $3.92 million penalty, but it didn’t fine the plant a penny.”

The leak was found in mid-August and the plant was shut down for a special inspection by the NRC, an inspection which is still ongoing.
“We are still evaluating this issue and have not made a determination on its significance,” NRC spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng told Michigan Live. “Therefore, we have not taken any enforcement actions to date.”

“The NRC’s job is more than just establishing safety standards. It also involves enforcing them consistently,” the report’s author David Lochbaum said in a press release. “Setting safety standards properly means one knows what it takes to protect public health. Failing to enforce them means one really doesn’t care if the public is protected or not. That’s unacceptable.”

Mitlyng said the findings are an indication that the NRC is doing its job.

“Far from showing lax regulation or oversight, these special inspections show the NRC doing its job to protect the public and the environment by finding and correcting problems early, before they can cause real harm. None of the incidents cited by UCS actually affected public health and safety.”