As the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan showed, nuclear power plants are not only vulnerable to environmental disasters but can pose a threat to the entire planet. Climate change is raising the risk for U.S. facilities.
America’s nuclear power plants weren’t built for climate change, report warns
The 2011 meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima-Daiichi power plant caused by an earthquake and tsunami triggered a wake-up call for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), according to an exclusive report by Bloomberg.
The question on the minds of the NRC was: Could something similar happen in an American plant?
Gregory Jaczko, then the chairman of the NRC, directed the operators of the 60 or so U.S. nuclear power plants in operation to evaluate their current flood risk. However, it should be noted that, according to the NRC, 20 percent of America’s power is generated by 104 commercial reactors in the U.S.
Investigation finds critical gaps
In the 2011 investigation, operators used the most current weather modeling and technology available at the time and were told to make assessments for the effects of climate change and whether or not radioactive fallout would harm the United States. The answer was good news and bad news.
The good news there was no threat of radioactive fallout over the U.S.
But the bad news was that the nuclear plants, many nearly a half-century old, had a lot of gaps in what the facilities were built to withstand. Risks are increasing as climate change worsens and raises the possibility of impacts from natural disasters.
Multiple nuclear power plants not capable of handling climate threats they face
Ninety percent of plants face at least one risk exceeding their design capability At least 54 of the nuclear plants operating in the United States were not designed to handle the flood risks they face, according to an investigation by Bloomberg.
In terms of design, 53 weren’t built to withstand the current risk from intense rainfall. Current flood projections from streams and rivers weren’t accounted for in 25 facilities. At least 19 facilities were not designed to handle their expected maximum storm surge. It is particularly troubling that 19 facilities now face three or more threats they were never designed to withstand.
Climate change could flood nuclear areas twice a month by 2060
In an assessment by the Union of Concerned Scientists, the claim that some nuclear reactors now sit on areas that are expected to flood an average of at least twice a month by 2060.
NRC voted down requiring reinforcement of aging reactors
In January 2019, NRC commissioners rejected a recommendation from their own senior staff, by a 3-to-2 vote, to require reactor owners to recognize new climate reality and fortify their plants against real-world natural hazards such as flooding and seismic events, according to the Washington Post. Most, if not all, of their reactors, were built in the late 1960s and 1970s and with highly optimistic assumptions.
Eight years earlier, following the Fukushima disaster in 2011, Congressman Ed Markey asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate earthquake and flood protection and nuclear plants. Markey has long pushed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission toward stricter enforcement of its safety rules, ProPublica reported. In terms of earthquakes, the NRC found the risk from earthquakes was more significant in some areas than expected and plans further research.
