An investigative agency within the government has recommended that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission consider upgrading an emergency communications system that might not work in the event of a power outage.
In the years following the Three Mile Island accident, the NRC began developing an automated reactor data transmission system that became operational in 1993. When activated, the Emergency Response Data System feeds the NRC information on a reactor's core and coolant system conditions, containment conditions, radiation release rates and meteorological conditions. In 2009, the agency upgraded the system from technology that required modems to transmit data to a virtual private network (VPN).
Nonetheless, that link could still be lost if power and/or communications were cut, as was the case at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The Government Accountability Office, in a wider review of 16 nations' response to the accidents in Japan, recently wrote: "Without upgrades to enable ERDS to function under emergency conditions, it may not be available when the need for it is greatest, such as during a severe accident."
The GAO recommended that the NRC consider expediting its decision on ERDS upgrades. The nuclear regulator has upgraded the voice network that serves as the primary means of emergency communication with plants and can bypass local telephone switching networks. The NRC, which offered no official opinion on the GAO recommendations, does not classify ERDS as a safety-related system and has postponed discussion on upgrading it until other Fukushima-related work is complete.