As the new home of NJPIRG's environmental work, Environment New Jersey can be contacted regarding this news release.
The
U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats
and International Relations held a hearing at 2:00 pm April 4 on Nuclear
Regulatory Commission efforts to define and meet physical security
standards at commercial nuclear power plants, and to release a
Government Accountability Office report entitled, “Efforts Made to
Upgrade Security, But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Design Basis
Threat Process Should Be Improved.” This hearing is particularly
important in light of the fact that nuclear power plants are clear
security risks, especially the Oyster Creek plant on the Jersey shore.
Oyster
Creek is the oldest operating nuclear power plant in the country that
is scheduled to close at the end of its current license in 2009. The
plant’s owner, Exelon Corporation, applied to the NRC to extend the
plant’s license by 20 years in July 2005. Oyster Creek is one of 24 GE
Mark I Boiling Water Reactors located in the U.S. that are the most
vulnerable to terrorist attack because the spent fuel pool is located
directly above the reactor and does not have the robust protection or
design to withstand a major aircraft attack.
New
Jersey Public Interest Research Group is part of a coalition of
environmental, religious and public safety organizations that are
calling on Governor Corzine to publicly call for the plant’s timely
closure at the end of its current license and have also intervened in
the license extension proceeding.
The
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has filed to
intervene in the proceeding. The NJ DEP recently submitted an appeal
brief to the Atomic Safety Licensing Board regarding state intervention
in the Oyster Creek license extension proceeding, which specifically
refers to the vulnerability of Oyster Creek’s spent fuel pool to
aircraft attack, noting that “Oyster Creek presents a prime target for
terrorist attack because it is the most centrally located nuclear
facility on the Atlantic seaboard comprised of the comparatively
unreliable and vulnerable Mark I design.” The NJ DEP brief, attached to
this email, also notes that, “Oyster Creek’s re-licensing proceeding
has begun while it still awaits parts of the three-phase assessment of
plant safety and security measures the Commission ordered after the
events of 9/11.”
Considering
the catastrophic consequences of a terrorist attack on a nuclear plant,
it is simply irresponsible for the NRC not include aircraft attack in
the Design Basis Threat for nuclear plants and to ignore the
site-specific security risks of nuclear plants across the country.
And
since nuclear plant owners applying for license extensions are required
to submit a Severe Accident Mitigation Analysis (SAMA) as part of their
application, it is doubly negligent that the NRC does not require a DBT
analysis of an aircraft attack within the SAMA.
And
finally, the GAO study found that the NRC, pressured by the nuclear
industry, overruled staff recommendations in the draft DBT that
required a full range of weapons that could be expected to be used in
an attack on a nuclear facility. This is another chapter in the NRC’s
history of putting profits before safety, and another reason for our
state leaders, especially Governor Corzine, to stand up and speak out
on behalf of New Jersey citizens.
NJ Department of Environmental Protection Appeal Brief to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (PDF)
