Nuclear Regulation

License Renewal Questions for Nuclear Plants Need to Be Resolved Gao ID: RCED-89-90 April 3, 1989

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the effects of aging on nuclear power plants, focusing on: (1) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) program to develop a license renewal policy and accompanying regulations; and (2) efforts by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the electric utility industry to extend the lives of nuclear plants.

GAO found that: (1) many utilities will have to decide whether to renew licenses for older nuclear plants or construct new plants; (2) although NRC has developed 3 possible license renewal policy options and identified 15 unresolved technical, environmental, and procedural regulatory problems, it has made little progress in reaching definitive regulatory criteria; (3) NRC research on the effects of aging on nuclear plants has not identified any generic age-related conditions that would require nuclear plants to shut down, but has identified some conditions that might require repair, replacement, or special treatment; (4) NRC identified some age-related degradation that could affect the continued operation of 12 plants; and (5) DOE and the utility industry have conducted life extension studies at four plants and have not identified any age-related degradation or technical obstacles associated with plant hardware to preclude continued operations.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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