Price seeks Harris plant safety review

Rep. David Price, a Democrat who represents the western Triangle, is calling for an independent Congressional review of fire safety at Progress Energy’s Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Wake County as well as other nuclear plants.

Price on Friday asked the Government Accountability Office, the research arm of Congress, to conduct a review of the enforcement of fire safety standards at the nation’s nuclear power plants.

His request was prompted by longstanding concerns among nuclear critics that the Shearon Harris plant is skirting federal fire safety standards. The critics contend that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s policies are inadequate for preventing fires in electrical cable and conduits that would be needed to shut down the nuclear plant during an emergency.

Several advocacy groups last year asked the NRC to force Progress Energy to fix the alleged defects, fine the company or shut down the nuclear plant. The NRC staff this year recommended denying the request filed by the N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network in Durham and other organizations. A final decision hasn’t been issued.

That advocacy group released news of Price's letter to the GAO today.

The critics question the integrity of the fire-retardant insulation wrapped around electrical cables that operate emergency safety equipment. The wrapping material shrunk in laboratory tests under intense heat, exposing power cables underneath.

Shearon Harris has been operating with the questionable insulation for more than a decade. The NRC has allowed the plant to use compensatory measures — such as round-the-clock foot patrols — until the problem is resolved.

Progress Energy officials have said it would cost millions of dollars to wrap more than 6,000 feet of cables in another fire-retardant material. Instead, the company will attempt to comply next year with the NRC’s modified fire-safety rules that will not require a system-wide retrofit.

Price wrote in his GAO request that stakeholders in his district have questioned the indefinite use of compensatory measures.

Price is asking the GAO to review the frequency and causes of recent fire emergencies at U.S. nuclear plants, the adequacy of interim compensatory measures such as those being used at Shearon Harris, and whether nuclear operators and the NRC are relying too much on interim safety measures.

Progress Energy has provided Price and his staff with information about its fire safety systems, said company spokeswoman Julie Hans. The company also offered Price and his staff an on-site demonstration of the fire safety systems.

The company will propose how it plans to comply with the new NRC fire standards by June 2008.

“We’re the pilot plant transitioning to the new risk-based fire-safety approach, and we expect to be completed by November 2010,” Hans said.