|
21 May 2004 - The Republican head of a Senate panel warned US nuclear regulators on Thursday that he would introduce legislation if they fail to shore up oversight gaps that led to severe corrosion at an Ohio nuclear plant.
Congress' investigative arm, the General Accounting Office, earlier this week criticized the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for failing to act quickly after spotting leaking boric acid that nearly chewed through the reactor at the plant owned by Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp.
Ohio Sen. George Voinovich, head of a Senate subcommittee on nuclear safety, asked NRC Chairman Nils Diaz to explain why the agency didn't do more to address safety standards at the 103 US commercial nuclear plants it regulates.
Diaz called the incident at the Davis-Besse plant an "unacceptable failure" by the NRC and FirstEnergy. But imposing specific "safety culture" rules is the responsibility of plant owners, not the NRC, Diaz said.
"We do not believe that's the role of the commission," Diaz said at a hearing of the Senate subcommittee. FirstEnergy "did not meet its own definition of safety culture," Diaz said.
Voinovich rebuked Diaz. "If you won't do it, I'll get legislation passed to get it done," the senator said.
The General Accounting Office study found the NRC "should have, but did not, identify or prevent the corrosion at Davis-Besse because its oversight did not generate accurate information on plant conditions." Other problems could occur because the NRC hasn't done enough to monitor safety, it said.
| 
Articles 
| View all PennWell sites | View all PennWell events
Add RSS Feed
