Nuclear Energy Vegetation: NRC Ought to Take Actions to Totally Contemplate the Potential Results of Local weather Change
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GAO-24-106326 Apr 02, 2024
Local weather change is more likely to exacerbate pure hazards—reminiscent of floods and drought. The dangers to nuclear energy crops from such hazards embrace injury to methods and gear that guarantee protected operation.
The Nuclear Regulatory Fee’s oversight course of contains addressing security dangers at these crops. Nonetheless, NRC doesn’t totally think about potential will increase in threat from local weather change. For instance, NRC largely makes use of historic knowledge to determine and assess security dangers, fairly than knowledge from future local weather projections.
We really helpful that NRC totally deal with local weather dangers to nuclear energy crops.
What GAO Discovered
Local weather change is predicted to exacerbate pure hazards—together with warmth, drought, wildfires, flooding, hurricanes, and sea stage rise. As well as, local weather change could have an effect on excessive chilly climate occasions. Dangers to nuclear energy crops from these hazards embrace lack of offsite energy, injury to methods and gear, and diminished cooling capability, probably leading to diminished operations or plant shutdowns.
The Nuclear Regulatory Fee (NRC) addresses dangers to the protection of nuclear energy crops, together with dangers from pure hazards, in its licensing and oversight processes. Following the tsunami that led to the 2011 accident at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear energy plant, NRC took further actions to handle dangers from pure hazards. These embrace requiring security margins in reactor designs, measures to forestall radioactive releases ought to a pure hazard occasion exceed what a plant was designed to face up to, and upkeep of backup gear associated to security features.
Nonetheless, NRC’s actions to handle dangers from pure hazards don’t totally think about potential local weather change results. For instance, NRC primarily makes use of historic knowledge in its licensing and oversight processes fairly than local weather projections knowledge. NRC officers GAO interviewed stated they imagine their present processes present an satisfactory margin of security to handle local weather dangers. Nonetheless, NRC has not carried out an evaluation to show that that is the case. Assessing its processes to find out whether or not they adequately deal with the potential for elevated dangers from local weather change would assist guarantee NRC totally considers dangers to current and proposed crops. Particularly, figuring out any gaps in its processes and growing a plan to handle them, together with by utilizing local weather projections knowledge, would assist be sure that NRC adopts a extra complete method for assessing dangers and is healthier in a position to fulfill its mission to guard public well being and security.
Why GAO Did This Examine
NRC licenses and regulates the usage of nuclear vitality to supply cheap assurance of satisfactory safety of public well being and security, to advertise the frequent protection and safety, and to guard the atmosphere. Like all vitality infrastructure, nuclear energy crops might be affected by disruptions from pure hazards, a few of that are more likely to be exacerbated by local weather change. Most business nuclear crops in the US had been constructed within the Nineteen Sixties and Seventies, and climate patterns and climate-related dangers to those crops have modified since their development.
GAO was requested to evaluate the local weather resilience of vitality infrastructure. This report examines (1) how local weather change is predicted to have an effect on nuclear energy crops and (2) NRC actions to handle dangers to nuclear energy crops from local weather change. GAO analyzed accessible federal knowledge and reviewed laws, company paperwork, and related literature. GAO interviewed officers from federal businesses, together with NRC, the Division of Vitality, and the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and educated stakeholders from business, academia, and nongovernmental organizations. GAO additionally carried out website visits to 2 crops.
Suggestions
GAO is making three suggestions, together with that NRC assess whether or not its current processes adequately deal with local weather dangers and develop and implement a plan to handle any gaps recognized. NRC stated the suggestions are in line with actions which are both underway or underneath growth.
Suggestions for Government Motion
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April 7, 2024 –
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
local weather change, USA
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