WASHINGTON, DC- Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and a long time advocate for strong nuclear plant safety regulations and enforcement thereof, sent a letter today to Nils J. Diaz, Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) asking questions about recent reports of the NRC sending an Augmented Inspection Team to the Turkey Point nuclear reactor site in Florida City to find out the cause of certain “equipment damage” at the reactor. This dispatch is of special concern since it is the second such team that has been sent in just over six weeks.

“The fact that the NRC has been forced to send two Augmented Inspection Teams to Turkey Point in a matter of weeks, and that the FBI is now participating in an investigation into what could possibly be an act of sabotage at the plant, raises some very serious questions regarding the nature and adequacy of security at Turkey Point,” wrote Rep. Markey in the letter.

A Florida Power and Light (FP&L) spokesman has been quoted as stating that the equipment damage in question was a 1/8th inch hole that was drilled into a stainless steel pipe connected to the “pressurizer,” a tank responsible for ensuring the water used to cool the reactor does not turn to steam. This is the second reported security problem at Turkey Point in just over six weeks, and it raises questions as to both the licensee’s implementation of the NRC’s security recommendations as well as the NRC’s ability to effectively police security breaches at licensee facilities.

In his letter, Rep. Markey posed a series of questions to Chairman Diaz in order to better understand the matter, including:

• “What steps has the Commission taken to ensure that the licensee is ‘effectively implementing’ any findings or recommendations made by the Augmented Inspection Team?”
• “Is the NRC at all concerned that these two incidents may reflect a breakdown or weakness in the security culture at FP&L?  If not, why not?  If so, what steps is the NRC taking to remedy this situation?”
• “Doesn’t the public have a right to know if a licensee is failing to ensure that that the safeguards program is functioning to protect against the design basis threat of radiological sabotage from either external or internal sources, and that licensees are maintaining adequate protection against threats through an effective security program that relies on a defense in depth approach?” 
• Citing several recent instances of “enforcement discretions,” Rep. Markey asked: “Is the NRC at all concerned that the overall number of ‘non-cited violations’ and NRC exercises of ‘enforcement discretion’ to not take action against other violations at Turkey Point may have contributing to a lax safety and security culture at FP&L?”
• “Is the NRC concerned that that its use of ‘non-cited violations’ at the Turkey Point facility may have overstated the level of security or safety at the plant, and contributed to the current problems at the facility?”

Rep. Markey has long been fighting for increased nuclear reactor safety and answers on the effects of nuclear reactors on the health of communities.   Most recently, Rep. Markey offered amendments to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to require the NRC to upgrade the “design basis threat” that nuclear power plant operators need to be prepared to defend against, and to upgrade the force-on-force exercises used to test security measures at the plants..

For a copy of the letter sent to the NRC or more information on Rep. Markey’s fight to ensure nuclear safety and security, check out: http://markey.house.gov/

 Copy of Rep. Markey's Letter to the NRC (4/10/06) (338.74 KB)