The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said it plans to release names of U. S. nuclear reactors that have installed components produced by the Le Creusot forge in France, a source of components that has been at the center of the controversy regarding falsified documents about parts installed in power plants.
The falsified documents issue was uncovered during an investigation of the forge triggered by parts installed at the Flamanville build in Normandy that included high concentrations of carbon, which could result in substandard steel.
The notice that the U.S. NRC would release the names of U.S. reactors with suspect parts was sent to French nuclear power company AREVA in a letter that was reviewed by Reuters, which broke the story.
The notice was dated 30 December. However, this week NRC spokesman David McIntyre reiterated the agency's position that the falsified document scandal did not compromise safety at any of the U.S. power plants with Le Creusot parts installed.
“At this time, there are no indications of any specific safety concerns for U.S. reactors,” McIntyre said.
There has been public pressure from anti-nuclear power groups for the NRC to release the names of the U.S. reactors involved in the controversy. There are at least nine of them, which were named in a letter AREVA sent to the regulator on 15 December. In that letter, according to media reports, AREVA said the names of the reactors were confidential due to proprietary concerns. However, the NRC's response to AREVA says the agency is not convinced that the information has proprietary value. It also says AREVA could challenge the agency's decision to release the information, which would forestall or prevent the release of the names.
Concerning parts known to the public, NextEra Energy spokesman Peter Robbins said the one Le Creusot component on of its eight operating reactors has been in place for “over a decade,” and showed no signs of problems, despite “detailed inspections and monitoring.” Xcel Energy Inc. spokeswoman Colleen Mahoney said that the parts in Xcel plants made at Le Creusot were produced in the early 1970s. “Our testing and inspections are rigorous and have not identified any issues,” she said.
Dominion Resources has said that there was a pressurizer at Millstone Station in Connecticut that has been in place since 2006. The company said it expects the part to continue operating through the life of the power plant, which has two reactors with operating licenses that expire in July 2035 and November 2045, respectively.
FirstEnergy Corp. has also stepped forward with information about Le Creusot parts that it says maybe installed at the Beaver Valley power station in Pennsylvania. Steam generators and reactor vessels heads at the facility were produced by Spanish company Equipos Nucleares SA. As such, some of the parts of those components may have been forged at Le Creusot.