OPINION:
Today, America’s most advanced reactors are the Vogtle units in Georgia (“U.S. can and should dominate world’s nuclear power resurgence,” web, March 11). They are Westinghouse-designed plants, based upon technology proposed in the 1980s. The Vogtle units are just now beginning operations, 17 years late and $7 billion over budget.
Meanwhile, two nuclear plants in Rep. Jeff Duncan’s South Carolina, the VC Summer units (also of Westinghouse’s Vogtle design) were abandoned in 2017. That cost South Carolina residents $9 billion. In the same year, Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy.
While other nations, such as China, are building plants of newer, safer, more efficient designs, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is authorizing the continued operation of current plants for two to four decades beyond their design operation lifetimes. Pressuring the NRC to speed up its review and licensing process could result in overlooked safety issues and occurrence of preventable accidents.
Current federal safety and licensing regulations are written for reactors that employ light water cooling and neutron moderation. Some of the more advanced reactor designs don’t employ any water at all. The NRC staff will have to learn about the new technologies and modify regulations and procedures to properly review them.
Furthermore, the NRC is a captured agency, under firm control of Exelon and the Nuclear Energy Institute, its paid lobbyist. One of the NRC’s five commissioners is a former Exelon lobbyist serving her second five-year term.
The NRC needs to be reformed from the ground up before any of its regulatory processes can be streamlined or even continued in their current form.
SAM MIRANDA
Leesburg, Virginia
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