Aug. 26, 2010—Members of the BP oil spill commission heard testimony from the Institute for Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) as they weigh recommending the creation of a similar self-regulating industry group that would oversee offshore oil drilling.
“I know of no self-regulatory model that has been implemented that comes close to what we do,” said James Ellis, president and CEO of INPO, said during his
testimony. “Through its 30-plus-year history, INPO has continued to raise the bar for nuclear power plant safety and performance.”
In response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, President Barack Obama created the
BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling Commission. The commission is examining the facts and circumstances of the Deepwater Horizon event and developing options for guarding against future oil spills.
The final panel of the commission meeting on Wednesday explored the possibility of creating a self-regulating industry group similar to INPO for the offshore oil drilling industry to help prevent future spills.
Ellis told the commission that five factors enabled INPO to be effective in fostering high standards of safety at U.S. reactors:
- nuclear power safety focus
- support from the nuclear industry
Ellis noted that industry self-regulation has been one driving factor toward improved industry performance. In the early 1980s, the typical nuclear power plant had a capacity factor of 63 percent, experienced seven automatic shutdowns per year, and had collective radiation exposure levels that could be significantly reduced. Today, the typical plant has a 91 percent capacity factor with zero automatic shutdowns per year and an occupational radiation exposure about six times lower than in the 1980s.
In addition to Ellis and former INPO CEO Zack Pate, the commission also called on witnesses from the oil industry to explain steps it is taking to develop a self-regulating body.
“We are studying all the options out there,” said Erik Milito, director of upstream and industry operations at the American Petroleum Institute. “It’s a bit of a challenge to recognize what’s in place, what’s going to be in place, and shape a potential program around that.”
When asked by former Sen. Bob Graham where the oil industry is in adopting an INPO-like body—with one being “no action” and 10 being “full implementation” of a self-regulatory organization—Milito responded that they were still weighing options.
“We’re probably in the five to six range at this point,” said Milito.
Later, Graham pressed Milito, asking him where the industry would be in “a couple of months” as that was “an important time frame for us” because the commission would begin to put together their recommendations for the president at that time.
“I’m hopeful in about three months, we’d be about seven or eight,” Milito said.
Graham also asked if they were considering just establishing standards or an implementation of full-scale program “similar to that of INPO.”
“Yes, I’m talking about consideration and implementation of a program. We’re looking at how we could craft one and how it could work for our industry,” Milito responded.
Asked what barriers INPO faced in the early days, Pate said the organization worked hard to overcome doubts about the organization from within the industry itself.
“The largest barrier in the early days was the skepticism of a lot of members and the plant managers and the people working in the plant who have a very challenging job,” said Pate. “There is historically a strong regulator in the nuclear industry … The last thing they [INPO members and plant managers] wanted was another layer of oversight or another layer of intrusion.”
However, INPO worked to build support for their program and overcame this skepticism.
“We had to win the support and keep the support of the CEOs. Eventually, if the CEOs support INPO programs, the guys down in the organization come along,” Pate said. “Then it was our challenge to make them believe they should come along and build our credibility … That was a huge early challenge.”
The commission plans to submit a final public report to the president with its findings around January, six months after their first meeting. Panelists’ remarks, the meeting agenda and other resources can be found
here.
—
Nuclear Energy Overview