beyondnuclear | Independent warnings from government whistleblowers within the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have surfaced alleging that U.S.
nuclear power stations sited along major rivers and below reservoirs are
vulnerable to a catastrophic nuclear accident following major dam
failures.
In July 2011 with the flood waters along the Missouri River still
rising around Nebraska’s Fort Calhoun nuclear power station, David
Loveless, a NRC Senior Reactor Analyst concluded in a post-Fukushima
technical review for the flood analysis at the nuclear power stations,
that the reactor would not survive the gross failure of the Oahe dam—one
of six dams on the Missouri River upstream from the nuke. Loveless
cites analysis that a dam break would hit the reactor on the Missouri
River with a wall of water knocking out electrical power systems and
water pumps vital for reactor cooling. The group, Clean Nebraska,
has recently written to NRC Chairwomen Allison Macfarland in an appeal
to not allow the restart of the reactor pending a full investigation.
Then in September 2012, Richard Perkins,
an Nuclear Reactor Regulations engineer and the lead author of
“Flooding of U.S. Nuclear Power Plants Following Upstream Dam Failure,” asked the agency’s Office of Inspector General to investigate his allegations that the NRC “staff
intentionally mischaracterized relevant and noteworthy safety
information as sensitive, security information in an effort to conceal
the information from the public” where “agency records that
show the NRC has been in possession of relevant, notable, and derogatory
safety information for an extended period but failed to properly act on
it. Concurrently, the NRC concealed the information from the public.”
Perkins further charges that his concerns regard a government
deliberate cover-up and violation of law involving fraudulent safety
claims to surrounding communities and their representatives.
Another NRC anonymous whistleblower, drew even more attention to risk
of nuclear accidents following dam failure to the Oconee reactor in
Senecca, South Carolina, stating, “The probability of Jocassee Dam catastrophically failing is hundreds of times greater than a 51 foot wall of water hitting Fukushima Daiichi,” the engineer said. “And, like the tsunami in Japan, the man-made ‘tsunami’ resulting from the failure of the Jocassee Dam will –- with absolute certainty –- result in the failure of three reactor plants along with their containment structures.
