Nuclear regulators have opened a review of fire safety risks at Progress Energy's Brunswick Nuclear Power Plant south of Wilmington.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees the safety of the nation's 104 reactors, notified Progress that Brunswick is one of five nuclear sites in the nation identified as having multiple safety risks.
The NRC's April 21 letter opens a federal safety review of the power plants to determine the level of fire risk at each facility. The letter identifies "eight risk factors that can lead to elevated on-going risk if not appropriately mitigated."
The companies will be required to fix the problems.
Fire safety has bedeviled the nuclear industry for decades, and safety reviews this month add five sites to the list of plants that may be falling short. Progress' Shearon Harris nuclear plant in southwestern Wake County for years has required round-the-clock foot patrols and other compensatory safety measures that nuclear critics have long said are inadequate.
According to the NRC's new safety reviews, the two nuclear sites with the greatest number of risks are Brunswick and Florida Power & Light's Turkey Point, south of Miami. Both are cited for seven out of eight risk factors.
The risks include complex safety procedures where "there is not high confidence that operators would be able to implement them in fire conditions."
Progress spokesman Mike Hughes said the company has put measures in place to mitigate the risks. "These typically involve manual fire watches and the like, and meet or exceed the standard requirements," he said.
The NRC said that none of the nuclear sites have as many risks as Browns Ferry did when it caught fire in 1975, exposing glaring design flaws in the nation's nuclear plants.
"It's an extremely important safety issue," said Jim Warren, director of Durham anti-nuclear group N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network. "They are not in compliance with federal safety regulations."
Browns Ferry has become legendary for the fire that a quarter-century ago shut the plant for more than a year. The fire began when a worker searched for air leaks using a candle flame and set fire to electrical cable insulation.
The fire triggered sweeping changes that are still rippling through the industry.
The Shearon Harris plant has more defective cable than any other U.S. nuclear facility.
Progress is adapting the plant to new NRC safety regulations. The company plans to complete the transition this year and submit the changeover for review.
