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improving government oversight
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01/25/2006
Petition for Longstanding Leaks
In January 2006 twenty two organizations and six individuals petitioned the NRC under the provisions of §2.206 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations to take enforcement action against all applicable licensees by issuing a Demand For Information requiring them to submit information about potential leakage at their facilities.
07/20/2006
UCS Formal Opposition to NRC Decision on Water Contamination at Nuclear Reactor Sites
In January 2006, UCS and a coalition of organizations across the United States petitioned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to order its licensees to provide information regarding the source of radioactively contaminated water at their facilities along with the methods used to monitor those sources for leakage.
Letter to NRC about its Oversight Process (PDF)
Countering proposals by industry representatives that the NRC should curb its efforts to detect and correct systemic weaknesses, UCS reminded the NRC that operating experience demonstrates the industry’s proposals must be rejected.
Letter to NRC about Availability of Public Records (PDF)
After a senior NRC manager told county legislators from New York that the NRC did not need to provide discovery during its legal proceedings because the agency already made all documents available to the public, UCS made this individual aware of the limits to this assertion.
Testimony to Congress on NRC’s Lessons Unlearned (PDF)
This testimony before the Senate’s Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate Change, and Nuclear Safety reviewed eight years of findings and recommendations by NRC’s auditors (the General Accounting Office and its Inspector General) to show how many problems recur because the agency has failed to correct known deficiencies.
Report – U.S. Nuclear Plants in the 21st Century (PDF)
In this report, UCS identified the risks from old and new nuclear reactors and recommended ways for the NRC to better manage those risks.
Comments on the NRC’s Reactor Oversight Process (PDF)
Responding to formal request for public comments, UCS provided the NRC with perspectives on those aspects of the process used by the agency to monitor reactor performance that were working well, those aspects that were not meeting expectations, and those aspects that we just did not understand.
Letter to NRC with Concerns about Proposed Performance Indicator (PDF)
Responding to industry’s complaints about the original indicator developed to trend the performance of vital backup safety systems, the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Research crafted a cumbersome and convoluted indicator that would be exceedingly easy to “mask” declining performance. UCS registered its many objections to the proposed replacement indicator with this letter.
Report – Nuclear Plant Risk Studies: Failing the Grade (PDF)
The foundation for NRC’s move towards risk-informed regulation is tenuous as best as UCS documented in this report.
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