Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) strongly criticized the move by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Board to restart the- Browns Ferry Unit 1 nuclear power station, idled since 1985 for noncompliance with federal safety standards and poor economic performance, as a desperate political effort that threatens the public health, safety and security.
“For years TVA placed power generation ahead of safety documentation and that’s why Browns Ferry closed,” said Paul Gunter, Director of the NIRS Reactor Watchdog Project. “Now TVA thinks they can counterfeit missing documents to make the reactor look safe for operation again,” said Gunter.
Unit 1’s closure originally came when TVA failed to accurately maintain the basic design basis documentation for the reactor including operational technical specifications, equipment modifications, and compliance records for safety equipment. While other commercial nuclear power plants maintained two sets of designs for each reactor, the original design drawings and the “as-built” design plan, TVA only maintained one set of design drawings for Browns Ferry Unit 1. Consequently, TVA lost track of fundamental design modifications to the operational safety blue print of the reactor. It became impossible for reactor operators to verify with confidence to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that Unit 1 had not drifted outside its safety specifications with growing margins of uncertainty for safety system reliability. TVA voluntarily shuttered the reactor in 1985 and placed the unit into “Administrative Hold.” Under this unprecedented status, TVA proceeded to defer all obligations to respond to safety bulletins and generic letters issued by the federal safety regulator that required the licensee to analyze reactor conditions and configurations. In every case, TVA responded that the reactor was now defueled and under “administrative hold” and that these issues would be addressed at an undetermined later date.
“Unit 1 has been frozen for 17 years in a state of non-compliance with federal safety standards without NRC oversight and inspection,” said Mary Olson, Director of NIRS Southeast Office in Asheville, NC.