The departing chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday that the agency may not be able to renew licenses for operating nuclear plants for "a few years" because of a federal court ruling, but the practical impact will be limited.
In his final news conference as chairman, Gregory Jaczko said he expects reactors that have applied for 20-year renewal of their operating licenses will be able to continue to operate while the agency addresses the ruling. He spoke at a Platts Energy Podium event in downtown Washington.
In addition, Jaczko urged the agency to continue to make mandatory post-Fukushima improvements to nuclear plants and warned there are signs of nuclear industry "pushback" against some of the proposed measures.
Allison Macfarlane, a geologist and professor of environmental policy, will replace Jaczko when she is sworn in, possibly Monday. Macfarlane was nominated to replace him after Jaczko announced he was leaving. Jaczko has not yet said what his future plans are. The Senate confirmed Macfarlane to the post June 29.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit told NRC June 8 to revisit rules governing the storage of spent nuclear fuel at the nation's 104 operating reactors. NRC, the court said, failed to conduct an environmental review when it updated its so-called "waste confidence rule" in 2010. That rule said the commission has confidence that spent fuel can be safely stored for at least 60 years after a reactor's operating license expires and that a disposal facility will be available when needed.
Although no license renewals will likely be issued until a new environmental impact statement is complete, the industry impact may be slight, Jaczko said. Existing reactors that have applied for renewal of their operating licenses probably could continue to operate past their original license expiration, he said.
Applicants for licenses to build and operate new reactors may see a delay, but very few have decided to build those units in the near term, Jaczko said.
NRC has renewed the original 40-year operating licenses of 73 of the 104 US reactors for 20 years, and operators of the remaining units either have filed license renewal applications or are expected to do so.
The court said NRC's evaluation of the risks of spent nuclear fuel was "deficient" because it "did not calculate the environmental effects of failing to secure permanent storage — a possibility that cannot be ignored."
NRC will develop a generic environmental impact statement for the waste confidence rule, a process with which it is familiar and the agency has already started, Jaczko said.
"I think it will be fairly straightforward," he said. "It will take some time, a few years, so that may have an impact on the timing on some decisions on licensing, but in the end it may not necessarily impact the operation of any facility."
Jaczko also said he remains concerned that post-Fukushima recommendations may not be fully implemented in "an effective time frame."
"The last thing that we can allow to have happen is for some lessons to go unimplemented and have some type of incident that could have been prevented," Jaczko said.
There is no agreement among current commissioners about whether the new requirements should be mandatory or simply an enhancement to safety, subject to a cost-benefit analysis, Jaczko said. If such an analysis is allowed, there could be a delay in making the improvements.
The nuclear industry has proposed to focus more on mitigation of the consequences of an extended station blackout, or the loss of all power, like that which contributed to the Fukuhshima accident, than on preventing the blackout, Jaczko said.
Jaczko said the NRC "performed exceedingly well" following the Fukushima accident, both in assisting people in Japan and in developing lessons learned from the incident.
The most important security issue facing NRC in the future will be protection from electronic intrusion, Jaczko said. NRC has required nuclear plant operators to submit a cybersecurity plan and the agency will inspect those plans starting next year. As nuclear plants add more digital instrumentation and controls to safety-related systems, cybersecurity becomes a bigger concern, Jaczko said.
He declined to be specific about the threat faced from cyber attacks, but said it was a concern for the entire electrical grid.
Jaczko did not say what his plans are for after his departure from NRC, saying only he would be taking some time off.
Asked if he had regrets about his deteriorating relationships with other commissioners, Jaczko said he wished the relationships had been better. The other four commissioners sent a letter to the White House in October saying the chairman had contributed to a "chilled work environment" because of angry outbursts and attempts to control information.
An NRC's Inspector General report that Platts obtained last week listed more than a dozen instances where Jaczko clashed with subordinates and fellow commissioners. The report said Jaczko's behavior contradicted the agency's commitment to "an open and collaborative work environment," but cleared him of exceeding his authority during the Fukushima nuclear accident and said he did not violate commission procedures.
"I've never been a shy person. I've always pushed for what I thought was right," Jaczko told reporters Thursday.
