As part of industry-led safety enhancements following the Fukushima Daiichi accidents, U.S. nuclear utilities opened a new emergency response center in Phoenix this week.
It provides a centralized location to store safety equipment like backup generators, spare pumps, couplings and hoses in the event of a severe accident at a nuclear plant. A second center will open in Memphis next month, making the equipment available to all U.S. power reactors within 24 hours by truck or plane.
The centers are part of the FLEX safety enhancement program led by the Nuclear Energy Institute. According to an NEI release Thursday, each emergency center cost $40 million and will require $4 million annually to operate. That cost will be shared by the organizations that operate America's 100 commercial reactors.