Chernobyl Nuclear Accident Congressional Hearings Transcript

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o Collective radiation exposure for pressurized water reactors
(PWRs) has dropped by nearly 40 percent since 1981 when it
reached a high of 707 raan-rems per unit-year. It was only
425 man-rem per unit-year in 1985. For boiling water
reactors (BWRs) it has decreased almost 35 percent since
1980 from 1,230 man-rem per unit-year to 800 to 1985.
o Low-level, solid radioactive waste shipped per PWR unit has
been reduced more than 43 percent, from 586 cubic meters per
unit-year in 1980 to 334 in 1985. For BWRs, it declined
more than 28 percent, from 1,113 cubic meters per unit-year
in 1980 to 797 in 1985.
o Industrial safety initiatives have reduced lost-time
accident rates for worker injuries at nuclear plants by
almost 53 percent since 1980 (1.36 per 200,000 man-hours
worked in 1980 to 0.64 in 1985). This fact alone makes the
U.S. nuclear power plant one of the safest industrial work
places.
LONG-TERM GOALS
In conjunction with ongoing efforts to monitor performance, INPO
has been working in concert with the industry to encourage each
utility to use the overall performance indicators to establish
long-term goals for each of its nuclear units.
Throughout 1985, INPO interacted with members and participants to
refine the overall performance indicators and to develop background
information that would assist in establishing long-term
goals for each unit. This effort culminated in discussions at
the November 1985 CEO Workshop where each utility was asked to
establish 1990 goals for as many of the overall indicators as
feasible and provide those goals to INPO during the spring of
1986.
By April 1986, each utility with operating nuclear plants had
developed 1990 goals for most of the overall indicators. The
following is a table that reflects these goals and that shows how
they compare with 1980 and 1985 results.
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