Dive Summary:
- The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has reported that three power plants were cited for an inadequate notification system when radiation levels were too high.
- The three plants who were cited were Dominion's Kewaunee, Xcel Energy's Prairie Island, and the now closed Crystal River plant that is owned by Duke Energy.
- The violations were because the three plants had procedures that set the level of radiation necessary to set off a public notification too high; the NRC said that no real threat to public safety existed.
From the article:
The NRC says the three plants had procedures in place in which the level of radiation necessary to trigger a notification of the public was set too high. As a result, according to the NRC, the facilities “had no way of accurately measuring these threshold values or declaring a [General Emergency] in a timely manner,” which would have left the public unaware of potential danger. The notification, issued earlier this month, blames the rule violation on “deficiencies in the training of personnel responsible” for radiation monitoring. “Personnel were not knowledgeable about the design and operation of the radiation monitors,” the notice said. ...