The timebomb of ageing US nuclear reactors revealed | Damian Carrington

AP A survey reveals how the industry has found a simple solution to aging: to weaken safety standards until the creaky floors to meet

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aging is not enough: things start to crackle or stop working all together. The good news, one would think, in the case of nuclear power plants is that you can replace worn, cracked or corroded with new ones.

But an impressive year long research in the field of nuclear energy in the U.S. by The Associated Press reveals how regulators and industry have repeatedly found a much easier to aging: to weaken safety standards until the creaky floors to comply.

yesterday afternoon, some commentators have argued that the issue of safety engineering is not unique to nuclear energy, which means that it is unfair to criticize the nuclear industry from the problems that go unnoticed elsewhere. I disagree for the simple reason that if the stakes are enormously high for nuclear reactors: safety standards should be much stricter because the consequences of severe accidents have these enormous economic and social costs. Remember, the agreement is signed when you build a reactor is the control of atomic hell for decades, then take care of the waste for thousands of years.

This brings us to the point that underlies the AP survey. The incentive to maintain security systems cost is directly contrary to the main incentive for operators of nuclear power plant, which is quite reasonable, is to make money. The problem comes when, over the year passed without serious incident, that the heavy regulation, the face begins to look like an unnecessary burden.

And that is exactly what journalists AP found:

federal regulators have worked closely with the nuclear industry in the United States for old reactors in the country operate under safety standards repeatedly weaken these rules, or simply fail not to enforce them. Again and again, U.S. officials Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decided that the original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins can be relieved safely, according to records and interviews.

• Examples abound. When the exhaust valves, a leak else is allowed - up to 20 times the original limit. When cracks that plague caused radiation leaks in steam generator tubes, test tubes was designed to facilitate that plants could meet the standards.
• failed cables. Busted stamps. Broken nozzles, clogged screens, cracked concrete, containing dented, rusty and corroded metal pipes underground - all these and many other aging-related problems were discovered. And they all could increase the danger in the case of an accident.

However, despite the many problems associated with aging, not a single official in the government or industry studied the prevalence and potential impact on the safety of these breaks in recent years , and the NRC has extended the licenses of dozens of reactors.

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