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NRC orders safety changes for US nuclear power plants
First orders for safety changes for US nuclear power plants are made by Nuclear Regulatory Commission days before first anniversary of Japan nuclear crisis.
US nuclear plants will have to implement safety changes within five years of Japan's nuclear crisis.
Major safety changes for US nuclear power plants were ordered by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Friday, just two days before the first anniversary of the nuclear crisis in Japan.
All US nuclear plants have been ordered to install or improve ventilation systems to limit core damage should a serious accident occur and to install sophisticated equipment which will monitor water levels in pools of used nuclear fuel.
The protection of safety equipment installed after the 2001 terrorist attacks is also expected to be improved to ensure damage can be handled should multiple reactors fail at the same time.
The 11 March 2011 tsunami caused three reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant to go into meltdown which resulted in the world’s worst nuclear crisis since 1986’s Chernobyl.
The NRC’s orders for the safety changes were the first issued since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and an NRC task force formed following the crisis recommended a number of changes last year in an attempted to increase protection at the 104 nuclear reactors in the US.
The nuclear industry may have to spend around US$100 million to purchase and install all portable emergency equipment, which includes pumps and generators, for all power plants.
