|NRC Docket Number:|
|License Type and Number:|
|Reactor Containment Type:|
|Reactor Design (NSSS):|
|Construction Permit Issued:|
|Electricity Produced in 2001:|
|2001 Average Capacity Factor:|
|Peak Early Fatalities (scaled):|
|Peak Early Injuries (scaled):|
|Peak Cancer Deaths (scaled):|
|Cost of Damages in 1980 Dollars (scaled):|
|Peak Fatal Radius:|
|Peak Injury Radius:|
|Taken from data released to the US House of Representatives
Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs
and the Subcommittee on Oversight by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from:
1. NUREG/CR-2723, SAND82-1110, "Estimates of the Financial Consequences of Reactor
Accidents", D.R. Strip, Sandia National Laboratory (DRAFT), and
2. CRAC2 computer printouts.
These studies were performed by Sandia National Laboratory under contract to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (1982). The figures provided here are based on a core melt down accident in which the reactor containment is breached directly to the atmosphere and all installed safety mechanisms fail.
|Repeated violations and cost overruns have plagued TXU at both sites, and both plants have been sited for problems during and after construction. Although construction of Comanche Peak took 20 years, the construction was rushed, and the NRC repeatedly fined TXU for falsifying blueprints and specs to pass inspections in a rush to get reactor online. This is but one example, as thousands of NRC violations have occurred at Comanche Peak, and cost overruns reaching tens of billions of dollars- a burden forced upon the ratepayers. It has been concluded that Comanche Peak was constructed with an ever-changing blueprint, and that these billions have been spent specifically to make the plant comply with federal safety requirements.|
- $10 Billion in cost overruns "one-third the taxpayers are to absorb"
- charges of collusion between NRC and Texas Utilities;
- documented cash settlements paid by Texas Utilities to former employees, apparently to silence whistleblowers and public interest groups The NRC originally condoned these settlements, then reversed it's position after a Senate subcommittee rebuked the agency in 1989;*
- workers repeatedly exposed to toxins, radiation and intimidation in the workplace;
- a list of thousands of non-conforming violations cited as well as
hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines levied by the NRC.
Continuing concerns have been raised over:
- quality control at the plant;
- electrical wiring, specifically wiring with separation problems, which causes cables to short out or melt;
- the viability of the reactor shield;
- the fire safety problems;
- pipe supports meant to hold up the thousands of feet of piping responsible for conveying both radioactive water and coolant to and from the core (an accident, in this case, might lead most quickly to meltdown)
- the chronic falsification of documents to pass NRC inspections
By far the largest upset occurred in late December of 1992, when a series of pump malfunctions began at both units.
By February 1993, five pump problems were reported. After investigating, the NRC fined HL&P $500,000 for
various violations of safety rules, placed the
plant on its "watch list" and issued a report citing the facility for ineffective management,
inadequate staffing, poor maintenance, and significant performance deficiencies.
South Texas Project was then forced to shut down for 14 months.
On Feb 22 1994, the City of Austin sued Houston Light and Power for $120 million in damages resulting from the shutdown, including the $51 million in higher electricity costs for Austin customers. In 1996, the city settled the suit with HL&P for $20 million with an agreement that an new independent operator would take over the plant, Texas Utilities (TXU).