The Obama administration will receive key findings today from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's 90-day federal safety review of the country's 104 reactors.

NRC sent the report to the White House today and hopes to make the document public tomorrow, NRC spokesman David McIntyre said.

The commission launched a two-tiered safety review in March after a magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami struck Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, triggering explosions and radioactive leaks at the site.

The accident sparked concerns over nuclear safety in the United States, and NRC launched a short-term, 90-day review to ascertain if immediate changes are needed at American nuclear reactors.

A long-term review has also begun. NRC -- which has repeatedly said that American reactors are safe -- wants to ensure that plant operators can cool down reactor cores and spent fuel pools if there are large fires, explosions or other catastrophes similar to those that rocked the Fukushima plant.

Inspections conducted in recent months revealed that some plant operators are not complying with federal safety standards, and training is lacking at some plants (Greenwire, May 16). Inspectors also uncovered missing or deficient equipment needed to cool reactors during emergencies, and NRC officials have questioned whether some rules should be mandatory as opposed to voluntary (Greenwire, June 27).

Nuclear Energy Institute President Marvin Fertel today said the industry expects to make changes, mainly focused on plant operations, that will build on current safety measures.

"Most of what we think we're seeing here are enhancements to things we were already doing," Fertel said.

Fertel pointed to lessons the industry learned after the 1979 partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, including the formation of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, an industry body that conducts confidential safety evaluations at U.S. plants, the sharing of operational experience and simulations of emergencies at each plant.

"The same kind of thing is coming out of Fukushima, we're looking at command and control, we're looking at operator reaction and operator capabilities," Fertel said. "We've got a lot of the right stuff in place, but we may need to take it another step in some places."

Industry members formed a separate task force to review nuclear plant safety last month, led by a 12-member steering committee made up of chairmen of industry groups and executives from nuclear companies (E&ENews PM, June 9).