NRC Japan Task Force Makes Recommendations

Staffers on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission  Japan Task Force made a number of safety recommendations they want owners of nuclear plants to make as soon as possible to boost safety after learning from the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The NRC will review the recommendations on Oct. 11.

The Japan Task Force divided the recommended tasks into three categories:

1) Highest priority should be given to adding instrumentation to spent-fuel pools, so operators will know what is happening even when they can't send workers to look at them, as happened in Japan.

2) Improvements to the containment structures that surround nuclear reactors, especially for the 23 U.S. reactors with designs similar to those in Japan that were badly damaged at Fukushima.

3) Improvements to venting systems that are used to relieve steam pressure inside the containment structures following an accident. Some vents malfunctioned and others were damaged at Fukushima by explosions.

Also among the task force's top priorities:

Improving the ability of plants to safely shut down after losing regular grid electricity, such as after a natural disaster. (WSJ, 10/5/2011)