The nuclear power industry in the United States continues its downward spiral with recent incidents at two major plants. Reactors across the country are being decommissioned at the end of their life cycles, and very few new reactors are being constructed. In the past two decades, Watts Bar 2 in Tennessee is the only new nuclear power plant to go operational, and its failings are a clear demonstration of why US nuclear power plant safety concerns are so high.

Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Plants

The decommissioning of nuclear power plants is generally carried out using one of three following methods.

• DECON: Allows for the site to be opened for commercial operation soon after the decommissioning process begins. This form of decommissioning involves the disposal of structures and waste at a waste disposal facility that prevents the radioactive pollution from entering the environment.
• ENTOMB: The site of the decommissioned nuclear power plant essentially becomes a graveyard for the radioactive waste. The radioactive waste is confined to a small area and a structure made of concrete or some other material is constructed to prevent pollution from entering into the environment.
• SAFSTOR: This method functions similarly to DECON, but generally occurs over a much longer time frame, sometimes spanning 40-60 years.

Regardless of the methods used, the long half-lives of these man-made radioactive particles means they pose potential risks for deadly pollution into the environment for decades after decommissioning takes place.
Watts Bar 2

In all of history, no nuclear power plant has had as long of a construction period as the Tennessee Valley Act’s Watts Bar 2. Its construction began in 1972, and commercial operations at the plant did not begin until late 2016. Much of this was due in part to a 22 years suspension of the project occurring from 1985 to 2007. The TVA opted to refurbish essential components that were installed during its early construction period, which would be considered outdated for the present time. One of these refurbished components was the condenser, which “cools exhaust steam from a turbine below the boiling point so that it can be returned to the heat source as water.” In March of 2017, the condenser failed, leading to the shutdown of the Watts Bar facility while TVA engineers investigate the cause of the failure. It is not likely to reopen until later this Summer. Fortunately, the condenser is a part of the generation process, and is not located within the containment building where the nuclear reactor is housed. Accidents in the containment building threaten the release of astronomical amounts of ionizing radiation into the environment. What is truly frightening about this shutdown, is that Watts Bar 2 was the first nuclear power plant in the United States to pass inspection after regulations were tightened following the Fukushima disaster in 2011. If the most modern facility is prone to accidents and failures what does that mean for nuclear power plant safety in the US?

Westinghouse Plant in Columbia, South Carolina

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has tightened its watch on the Westinghouse nuclear facility in Columbia, South Carolina following ongoing issues with uranium buildup releasing radioactive pollution into the surrounding area.

In the most recent case, the company potentially allowed uranium to build up for 23 hours late in 2016 in the pollution control device. Westinghouse did not properly restart nozzles on the device, known as a scrubber, that keep processed water flowing, a Jan. 27 NRC violation notice says.

That finding, to be discussed Tuesday night at a meeting in Columbia, follows the discovery months earlier that enough uranium had built up in the scrubber to have caused a small burst of radiation. No explosion occurred, but the issue was significant enough for Westinghouse to shut down part of the plant for several months while it worked to make improvements. The closed portion of the plant has since been restarted.

The NRC has stated that they are content with the improvements made to the plant, but will now be conducting annual checkups on the plant as opposed to the standard biannual checkups. They are also still in the process of considering whether or not the company should be fined for its failure to comply with regulations.

The incidents at Westinghouse’s Columbia facility and Watts Bar 2 serve as reminders of the current issues with US nuclear power plant safety. Regulations are too loose, and current technologies are simply not capable of ensuring a guarantee that disaster will not occur. Though nuclear energy is on the decline in the United States, construction on new reactors at Vogtle in Georgia and VC Summer in South Carolina prove that nuclear power plants and the radioactive waste they produce will still be around for decades to come.