http://66.225.205.104/JR20110606.mp3
In a world where nearly everything is digital - down to the smallest kitchen appliance - it's hard to believe the nation's nuclear industry is still operating on analog technology built in the 70s. But it's true. The 104 nuclear reactors in America run on the technological equivalent of cassette tapes. Duke Energy will soon be the first to enter the 21st century with the digital conversion of operating and safety systems at its Oconee Nuclear Station in Western South Carolina. Ask a utility company why it's taken so long, and the answer might sound like what your grandpa would say at the recommendation that he start using an MP3 player. "Quite honestly the analog system has worked beautifully for us for over 30 years," says Duke Energy spokeswoman Sandra Magee. "It's functioned as designed. It's provided superior service. We recognize at this point though that the maintenance of that system is becoming more difficult - to find replacement parts and things like that." Dave Lochbaum compares the conundrum to trying to repair an 8-track tape player. "You need to go digital because that's basically what the marketplace is today," says Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project for the Union of Concerned Scientists. Lochbaum worked for more than a decade at nuclear plants and he says Magee is right. The old system of switches and electric impulses has worked fine to keep America's nuclear reactors running safely. The main reason for the change now is the cost - and difficulty - of repair. "There are fewer and fewer producers of the old analog equipment," says Lochbaum. "Many plant operators are scouring plants that have shut down. There are about 20 reactors in the United States that have permanently shut down, so they're becoming carcasses for scavengers. I don't know of eBay being a source yet, but there's just not that many suppliers for that equipment." Duke Energy is making the transition under supervision of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission - or NRC. The company will spend about $250 million installing computer chips and software to monitor the core operations of its three reactors at the Oconee Nuclear Station. The new system will be easier to maintain and more likely to prevent the plant from shutting down unnecessarily. When the current analog system senses a problem, it automatically shuts the reactor down until engineers can figure out what's wrong. A digital system can diagnose the problem first and determine if a full-scale shutdown is required. Any time a nuclear reactor goes cold, a utility loses millions of dollars. But Lochbaum says even that advantage wasn't enough to motivate the digital upgrade until just recently. Lochbaum: "Ten years ago for example, plants were approaching the end of their 40 year operating license times and would have had to shut down at the end of that period. In recent years, many plants, more than half of the reactors, including Oconee, have obtained a 20-year extension to its operating license so the capital cost of the new equipment like the digital control systems can be spread out over a longer period of time. If you weren't going to get the 20 year extensions, you might have limped a long with the analog systems until the end of your original license." Rose: "What about hackers? If this is now software and digital and networked, is that a concern?" Lochbaum: "The integrity of the digital systems is one of the things the NRC is looking at very closely. Overseas there have been some hackers and other people who've maliciously tried to cause problems by breaching the firewalls. With this being the first one of this scale - cybersecurity is being looked at very, very carefully." Rose: "Is it being addressed adequately - in your mind - with this Oconee transition?" Lochbaum: "The NRC is taking this very seriously. I'd almost tend to say they're going too far. But as a safety advocate it's hard to say that you have too much safety or too much security, but they're doing an awful lot to guard against that potential problem." Rose: "What do other utilities think about this? Lochbaum: "An awful lot of companies are watching Duke to see how successful this conversion is at Oconee. If it goes well the way it's laid out, then I think many other plant owners will follow suit. Everybody's kind of looking to see if it works right they'll jump on board. If it doesn't work right they'll hold off a few more years until the right system, the right combination comes along." Some public safety watchdogs do worry about the guinea-pig status of Duke's Oconee Nuclear Station in Western South Carolina. But Duke officials say they've spent years working with federal regulators and training their team to make the digital transition. The first Oconee reactor is being upgraded as we speak. The other two will transition over the next two years.