Earlier, it began extending the operating licenses of nuclear power plants to run for 60 years--and most of the plants in the U.S. now are being allowed to run for 60 years. And in recent years it has given the go-ahead for nuclear plants to run for 80 years, and several have been licensed for that length.
In granting the license extensions to 60 and 80 years, the NRC has also been allowing the plants to be "uprated" to generate more electricity -- to run hotter and harder-- further asking for disaster.
Gunter testified about an NRC cover-up involving the extending of nuclear power plant licenses. Using PowerPoint to reinforce his points, Gunter displayed a 2017 report commissioned by the NRC made by the DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The "very critical report," said Gunter, looked at conducting research on the impacts of extending nuclear power plant operating licenses. It is titled "Criteria and Planning Guidance for Ex-Plant Harvesting to Support Subsequent License Renewal." Click Here
The report listed many significant issues considering the "harsh" degradation of nuclear power plant components over the years, he said. It pointed to "a host of critical technical gaps."
After he "raised questions about" issues in the report at a meeting on operating license extensions held in 2018 at the NRC's headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, the report was "taken down from government websites," said Gunter. However, Beyond Nuclear saved a copy of the report. He spoke of an email that Beyond Nuclear obtained, after two years of trying under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, from an NRC employee saying: "Big picture, I think the entire report needs to be scrubbed." A "sanitized" version of the report, said Gunter, was "republished" in 2019. Gunter spoke of "public safety" being threatened.
Gunter, also at the "public meeting" this week, said among the issues not being considered in the NRC's drive to extend the licenses of nuclear power plants to 100 years is the management of the radioactive waste generated by the plants and "the advent of reliable, competitive and abundant renewable energy."
What President Joe Biden does about nuclear power -- he has said he is for "advanced" nuclear power -- and the pro-nuclear NRC remains to be seen. The president appoints the five members of the NRC, and its current chairperson, a nuclear engineer and Trump appointee, is resigning.
Biden could move to have done to the NRC what was done to its predecessor agency, the AEC, to have it abolished. And to push to end nuclear power in the U.S.
Most U.S. nuclear power plants, according to a PowerPoint slide shown by the NRC's Hiser, have already operated more than 40 years -- the numbers of years they were seen as running safely when they began operating.
(Article changed on January 22, 2021 at 16:52)
(Article changed on January 22, 2021 at 16:55)
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