NRC asked to probe nuke waste casks

Benjamin Grove

Monday, June 23, 2003 | 9:33 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Two activist groups have asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to probe allegations that some of the nuclear waste storage containers used in five states are flawed.

Public Citizen and Nuclear Information and Resource Service last week asked the NRC to look into allegations originally made by a corporate audit team in July 2000 about the containers.

Former Exelon Corp. employee Oscar Shirani led the quality assurance audit of casks designed by Holtec International, a leading nuclear waste cask manufacturer, and fabricated by U.S. Tool and Dye. Exelon, the nation's leading nuclear power company, uses Holtec casks to store waste at its plants.

Shirani found nine technical violations in a cask design currently used in five states -- Illinois, Oregon, New York, Georgia and Washington. The violations did not meet Nuclear Regulatory Commission standards, the audit found, according to the two groups. The casks may not perform under stress and strain as the NRC expects, Shirani has said. The NRC regulates the nuclear industry, including waste casks.

Shirani said the Holtec casks have welding violations and "brittle" material, according to the activist groups. He also alleges falsified quality assurance documents.

The issue has relevance to Yucca Mountain, activists say. Holtec is likely to bid on a lucrative contract for waste shipping containers that will be needed to haul waste from the nation's nuclear plants to the proposed underground waste repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"If Holtec casks are used to haul nuclear waste through Nevada to Yucca Mountain, there are unknown safety margins," Public Citizen analyst Lisa Gue said. "And the other problem is that the NRC doesn't seem to care."

Shirani was not available for comment.

Holtec manager of licensing and technical services Brian Gutherman said the flaws were addressed after the audit was released. Gutherman said the company did not know why Shirani and the activist groups were raising the issue again. He said the company is reviewing the audit documents and the company's follow-up.

"It's a very typical procedure that findings are made, corrective actions are recommended and those actions are taken when appropriate," Gutherman said.

Shirani has alleged that the company fired him because of his audit. But Exelon spokesman Craig Nesbit denied that the company retaliated or fired Shirani. Shirani left the company more than a year after the audit, and his departure was "absolutely unrelated" to the audit, Nesbit said. He could not elaborate on why or how Shirani left the company.

Nesbit also said Exelon and Holtec addressed the cask flaws Shirani described in his audit.

Public Citizen and NIRS requested a probe by the NRC in a June 19 letter. An NRC spokeswoman today could not say how the NRC will respond.

"The circumstances surrounding this audit, its findings and Mr. Shirani's subsequent dismissal from Exelon point to a concerning breakdown in NRC's quality assurance program and the agency's oversight of industry quality assurance programs," the two groups wrote to the NRC.