Arkansas Nuclear One (Entergy) rated worst nuke plant in U.S

Arkansas Nuclear One rated worst nuke plant in U.S.

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (KTHV) - Arkansas Nuclear One in Russellville ranks among the worst nuclear plants in the country for federal performance ratings. The low rating comes as a result of two major issues that have led to what the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission calls "a significant decline in plant performance." "We're taking this very seriously, I do view this as an opportunity. It's an unfortunate place to be but it also yields a lot of good opportunity for us," said Arkansas Nuclear One Site V.P. Jeremy Browning. "You don't just want to fix the symptom, you want to fix the underlying cause that drove that symptom so it doesn't ever happen again." 

Browning said he's not happy about his plant being the only one in the country being scrutinized this heavily by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but he was quick to point out that the plant is fully committed to getting back on track. Nuclear One's decline in performance is related to a 2013 accident that killed 24-year-old Wade Walters and injured eight others. Then, in January of this year, regulators found problems with the plant's flood protection systems. "What I'm talking about is: why did we not detect those issues before they became self-revealing" added Browning. "That's what we need to do. We are not going to have another failed project like we did in 2013, we're not going to have a problem with our flood barriers, we have fixed that – but something allowed those to self-reveal themselves to us and we can't tolerate that." Part of the fix will include a safety culture assessment according to NRC spokesperson Lara Uselding. "Safety culture is just good decision-making by the workers, good problem identification and understanding that when you have a problem how to prioritize it and then how to fix it," said Uselding. "The NRC does believe that the plant can operate safely and therefore they have not been asked to shut down, they have demonstrated sustained improvement so far with making corrective action to some of these issues that we've discussed." Browning says he's confident Nuclear One will be able to address the issues and continue production without any further issues.