Summary
Spent nuclear fuel--the used fuel periodically removed from reactors in nuclear power plants--is too inefficient to power a nuclear reaction, but is intensely radioactive and continues to generate heat for thousands of years. Potential health and safety implications make the control of spent nuclear fuel of great importance. The discovery, in 2004, that spent fuel rods were missing at the Vermont Yankee plant in Vermont generated public concern and questions about the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) regulation and oversight of this material. GAO reviewed (1) plants' performance in controlling and accounting for their spent nuclear fuel, (2) the effectiveness of NRC's regulations and oversight of the plants' performance, and (3) NRC's actions to respond to plants' problems controlling their spent fuel.
Nuclear power plants' performance in controlling and accounting for their spent fuel has been uneven. Most recently, three plants--Vermont Yankee and Humboldt Bay (California) in 2004 and Millstone (Connecticut) in 2000--have reported missing spent fuel. Earlier, several other plants also had missing or unaccounted for spent fuel rods or rod fragments. NRC regulations require plants to maintain accurate records of their spent nuclear fuel and to conduct a physical inventory of the material at least once a year. The regulations, however, do not specify how physical inventories are to be done. As a result, plants differ in the regulations' implementation. For example, physical inventories at plants varied from a comprehensive verification of the spent fuel to an office review of the records and paperwork for consistency. Additionally, NRC regulations do not specify how individual fuel rods or segments are to be tracked. As a result, plants employ various methods for storing and accounting for this material. Further, NRC stopped inspecting plants' material control and accounting programs in 1988. According to NRC officials, there was no indication that inspections of these programs were needed until the event at Millstone. NRC is collecting information on plants' spent fuel programs to decide if it needs to revise its regulations and/or oversight. In addition to reviewing specific instances of missing fuel, NRC has had its inspectors collect basic information on all facilities' programs. It has also contracted with the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee to review NRC's material control and accounting programs for nuclear material, including spent fuel. It further plans to request information from plant sites and visit over a dozen of them for more detailed inspection. These more detailed inspections may not be completed until late 2005, over 5 years after the instance at Millstone that initiated NRC's efforts. However, we believe NRC has already collected considerable information indicating problems or weaknesses in plants' material control and accounting programs for spent fuel.
Recommendations
Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change
from "In process" to "Implemented" or "Not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director:
Team:
Phone:
Mark E. Gaffigan
Government Accountability Office: Natural Resources and Environment
(202) 512-6877
Recommendations for Executive Action
Recommendation: To improve the effectiveness of nuclear reactor licensees' material control and accounting programs for spent nuclear fuel, the NRC Commissioners should take action, in a timely manner, on establishing specific requirements for the control and accounting of loose spent fuel rods and rod segments and nuclear reactor licensees' conduct of their physical inventories.
Agency Affected: Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Status: In process
Comments: NRC has issued Temporary Instruction 2515/154, "Spent Fuel Material Control and Accounting at Nuclear Power Plants" and conducted detailed inspections of the material control and accounting programs at all 73 affected facilities, including 65 operating nuclear reactors, 4 decommissioning nuclear facilities and 4 wet storage facilities. NRC found violations ranging from Severity Level II to Severity Level IV at 58 of the 73 facilities. NRC led an American National Standards Institute committee to revise standard N15.8, "Nuclear Material Control Systems for Nuclear Power Plants." In addition, NRC plans to review the standard for endorsement through revision of Regulatory Guide 5.29, "Nuclear Material Control Systems for Nuclear Power Plants," and Regulatory Guide 5.49, "Internal Transfers of Special Nuclear Material." These revisions will provide licensees with more specific guidance in the control and accounting of spent fuel rods and pieces and the conduct of physical inventory by emphasizing that the regulations apply to rods and pieces that have been separated from their parent assemblies.
Recommendation: To improve the effectiveness of nuclear reactor licensees' material control and accounting programs for spent nuclear fuel, the NRC Commissioners should take action, in a timely manner, on developing and implementing appropriate inspection procedures to verify compliance and assess the effectiveness of licensees' material control and accounting programs for spent fuel.
Agency Affected: Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Status: Implemented
Comments: In November 2003, NRC issued Temporary Instruction 2515/154, "Spent Fuel Material Control and Accounting at Nuclear Power Plants." Subsequently, NRC conducted detailed inspections of its material control and accounting programs at 73 nuclear facilities that found violations at 58 of the facilities ranging from Severity Level II to Severity Level IV. In April 2007, NRC incorporated material control and accounting into the security and safeguards baseline inspection program of its Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) for ensuring the safety of nuclear power facilities.
