Energia i regulacje · 23/09/1998

Financial Protection Requirements for Permanently Shutdown Nuclear Power Reactors

On October 30, 1997, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published for comment proposed amendments to its regulations to allow licensees of permanently shutdown nuclear power reactors to reduce onsite and offsite insurance coverage under certain conditions (62 FR 58690). In a late comment letter submitted on April 17, 1998, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) argued that the required level of onsite insurance coverage should be lowered to $25 million. In NEI's view, $25 million would be adequate for on-site cleanup costs for radioactive liquid spills. The NRC proposed rulemaking would require $50 million insurance coverage. The NRC used a postulated rupture of a 450,000 gallon borated water storage tank as the defining event for determining the required insurance coverage. NEI also proposed that the requirement for onsite insurance be eliminated if less than 1000 gallons of contaminated liquid were onsite. NEI based its recommendation on a model that apportioned the removal of the contaminated soil to various disposal facilities according to the degree of contamination. Hence, under the NEI's model, some soil would be sent to a Barnwell type facility, some to a lower cost facili