NRC to call for even tougher plants

Dale Klein, Chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), said that the commission will soon issue guidance for nuclear power reactor manufacturers on design improvements to further increase plant security, including protection against terrorist attacks.

He told the Associated Press that the NRC would tell manufacturers of next generation plants "what we believe the reactors should be designed to withstand", including the possibility of the plant being struck by a large aircraft. "It is likely that we will ask the vendors to consider that in a different way than we did in the previous plants", Klein said.

Since the World Trade Centre attacks in New York in 2001 there has been concern about the consequences of a large aircraft being used to attack a nuclear facility with the purpose of releasing radioactive materials. Various studies have looked at similar attacks on nuclear power plants. They show that nuclear reactors would be more resistant to such attacks than virtually any other civil installations. A thorough study was undertaken by the US Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) using specialist consultants and paid for by the US Department of Energy (DOE). It concludes that US reactor structures "are robust and (would) protect the fuel from impacts of large commercial aircraft."

However, the current 103 nuclear power reactors in operation in the USA were designed under regulations that did not require consideration of such an event.

"These new plants have the opportunity to reduce the (deterrent) actions" that will be required as part of the plant operations "by increased design requirements", Klein said. He added, "The new reactors in all likelihood will be more robust than the existing fleet."

He said that the NRC expected to receive four or five firm applications for new reactors in 2007, with a further eight likely in 2008. Most, if not all, of the new reactors would be built on the sites of existing nuclear power plants.

Further information

Nuclear Regulatory Commission