The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2014

The report evaluates the NRC's 2014 safety oversight, noting a decline in the number and severity of 'near misses' but criticizing the agency for withholding safety documents, retaliating against whistleblowers, and applying inconsistent oversight standards across different regions.

• In 2014, the NRC reported nine 'near miss' events—incidents that prompted the dispatch of a special inspection team (SIT) due to a 10-fold increase in the risk of reactor core damage. All nine events in 2014 triggered SITs, while none required augmented inspection teams (AIT) or incident inspection teams (IIT).
• A significant number of near misses in 2014 and previous years were caused by failures in in-plant electrical distribution systems to contain electrical problems. Some of these issues were introduced by recent maintenance or modifications, as seen at the Catawba and Millstone plants.
• Analysis of data from 2010 to 2014 shows a declining trend in the number of reactors experiencing near misses, dropping from 19 in 2010 and 2011 to 11 in 2014. Over this five-year period, 81 near misses occurred at 53 different reactors, averaging one every 22.5 days.
• The NRC has systematically withheld nearly all documents received from plant owners regarding emergency planning and fire protection since October 2004, even when the agency acknowledged the information was unlikely to be sensitive. This practice deprived the public of the legal right to contest licensing requests and exemptions.
• The NRC has been accused of creating a 'chilling effect' on its own workforce by subjecting employees who raised safety concerns to repeated, unsubstantiated investigations. The report cites the cases of Lawrence S. Criscione and Dr. Michael Peck as examples of employees targeted for their vigilance.
• The NRC's Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) is applied inconsistently across its four regional offices. A GAO analysis from 2000 to 2012 found that Region II identified the fewest non-escalated findings despite overseeing the most reactors, while Region IV identified the most findings despite overseeing the fewest reactors.
• The NRC demonstrated proactive safety management through two 2013 projects to enhance the Reactor Oversight Process and a knowledge management program initiated in 2006 to capture 'tribal knowledge' from an aging workforce before retirement.

APA

Lochbaum, D. (2015). The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2014. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/03/nrc-2014-full-report.pdf

Chicago

Lochbaum, David. The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2014. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2015. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/03/nrc-2014-full-report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lochbaum |first1=David |title=The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2014 |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=March 2015 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/03/nrc-2014-full-report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lochbaum2015nrc, author = {Lochbaum, David}, title = {{The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2014}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2015}, month = mar, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/03/nrc-2014-full-report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }