A report by the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII, the British equivalent of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission) has found that severe downsizing by British Energy, Ltd. is threatening nuclear safety at British atomic reactors. The report, which has never officially been made public, was obtained and released in England by Friends of the Earth UK and provided to the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) in Washington, DC.
British Energy is the partner–with Philadelphia Electric–in the new, controversial corporation Amergen, which is seeking to buy U.S. nuclear reactorsfor 10 cents on the dollar or less. Last week, Philadelphia Electric announced it would merge with another troubled nuclear utility, Unicom of Illinois. Although full details of the merger are not yet available, it appears that the new merged company will remain an equal partner with British Energy in Amergen.
Amergen already has announced proposed purchases of the Three Mile Island-1 reactor in Pennsylvania; Nine Mile Point-1, and part of Nine Mile Point-2 in New York; Clinton, in Illinois; and, most recently, Oyster Creek in New Jersey, the latter for only $10 million, or 0.2 percent of the cost of a new reactor. Amergen also is considering making a bid to purchase the troubled Vermont Yankee reactor.
None of the sales are yet final. They depend on a favorable ruling from the Internal Revenue Service on the transfer of decommissioning funds (or Congressional legislation) and legislation allowing foreign ownership of U.S. reactors.
According to the NII report, if Amergen does successfully bid on Vermont Yankee, employees and Vermont residents should beware.
Although downsizing in the British nuclear industry, which was previously government-owned, began before British Energy took over the reactors in 1996, British Energy accelerated the process. The NII report found that some 20% of the workforce had been laid off, sometimes replaced by outside contractors, and sometimes not replaced at all.
According to the report, “the staff reduction programme…had been predicated on the assumption that in a privatised environment, they could reduce the amount of safety related work (e.g. on plant modifications)…staff reduction have in fact taken place without any reduction in workload.”
The result has been substantial (and according to NII, often unreported) overtime for workers and a decline in reactor safety standards. In several key safety areas, such as fire protection, the utility has only one specialist available to address issues at eight different nuclear reactor sites, with 11 reactors. Indeed, the layoffs have led to the situation where the utility does not have even one person working in a key area: severe accident analysis.
Moreover, remaining workers at the reactors reported that there was a “widespread attitude that issues which could endanger [electrical] output were top priority, while it was acceptable to delay less immediate safety related work…” Top management was faulted for not fully appreciating the difference between nuclear and conventional industry, with NII flatly stating, “If BE Group (British Energy) are to discharge their strategic function they therefore need to have some understanding of nuclear issues.” NII said British Energy’s approach “is not good practice in a company that operates 11 reactors and provides 20% of the country’s energy supply.”
If Philadelphia Electric successfully merges with Unicom, and Amergen succesfully buys the reactors it has agreed to, Amergen will operate 19 reactors comprising 17% of the nation’s nuclear-generated electricity.
“This report proves what we have said all along,” said Debby Katz, director of the Citizens Awareness Network. “Amergen wants to buy U.S. reactors at pennies on the dollar, lay off large numbers of the workforce, and run the reactors at the absolute minimum of safety standards. This should be unacceptable to Vermont ratepayers, to the Vermont Yankee workers, and to the entire American public.”
“What is really scary is that the report states that British Energy is not finished with its layoffs. In fact, according to a section of the report not intended for public distribution, it’s stated that British Energy wants to lay off another 300 people. Says the report, ‘The technical basis for continuing staff reductions was not clear to us, but it could be related to the requirement to compete in the commercial market place.’ If endangering the public is how British Energy competes, we say it’s time for a second American tea party to send themand Amergenback to their own shores, where they clearly have a lot of work to do,” said Michael Mariotte, director of NIRS.
“Amergen thinks it can compete in the deregulated utility marketplace with atomic reactors,” said Katz, “but in reality, it can only compete by cutting costs, reducing maintenance, and causing unacceptable risks to the public and our environment. It’s time that state and federal regulators step in and say their slash and burn approach won’t be tolerated in the United States.”
Copies of the full report are available from NIRS, 301-270-6477. Unfortunately, copies of this lengthy report are available only in hard copy.