The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2013

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) evaluates the NRC's 2013 performance, noting a decrease in the number and severity of 'near-misses' but highlighting critical inconsistencies in enforcement. While the NRC successfully managed the restart of the Fort Calhoun plant and identified gaps in aging component oversight, it is criticized for allowing the Diablo Canyon and Oconee plants to operate despite known seismic and fire safety risks, and for improperly withholding information regarding the Jocassee Dam's potential to cause a total meltdown at Oconee.

• In 2013, the NRC reported 10 'near-miss' events—incidents that increased the risk of reactor core damage by at least a factor of 10—consisting of nine special inspection team (SIT) investigations and one augmented inspection team (AIT) investigation.
• The number of reactors experiencing near-misses declined from 29 in 2010 and 2011, and 18 in 2012, to 14 in 2013, with a general reduction in the severity of these events.
• The NRC demonstrated inconsistent enforcement by allowing the Diablo Canyon plant in California to operate despite known seismic safety shortcomings, while it had previously shut down eight other facilities for similar earthquake protection vulnerabilities.
• The NRC improperly withheld information from the public regarding the Jocassee Dam, having determined that a failure of the dam would result in a 100 percent chance of all three reactors at the Oconee Nuclear Station melting down.
• The NRC exhibited contradictory behavior regarding fire safety at the Oconee plant: it denied a two-year extension for safety fixes in January 2013 because the risk was too high, but then ordered the company in July 2013 to complete the fixes by November 15, 2016, effectively granting a nearly four-year delay.
• An NRC review of 105 reports on age-related failures between 2007 and 2011 found that in over 75 percent of cases, components were operated beyond the manufacturer's recommended service life or run until failure.
• The NRC successfully managed the restart of the Fort Calhoun plant in Nebraska by refusing to allow operation until a specific 'to do' list of safety shortcomings was resolved and verified.

APA

Lochbaum, D. (2014). The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2013. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/NRC-Nuclear-Safety-Report-2013.pdf

Chicago

Lochbaum, David. The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2013. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2014. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/NRC-Nuclear-Safety-Report-2013.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lochbaum |first1=David |title=The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2013 |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=March 2014 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/NRC-Nuclear-Safety-Report-2013.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lochbaum2014nrc, author = {Lochbaum, David}, title = {{The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2013}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2014}, month = mar, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/NRC-Nuclear-Safety-Report-2013.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }