The commission established the task force in March to review whether to take additional action following a series of reports of radioactive effluent leaks at US power reactors.

The task force report, released Thursday, contained conclusions based on several months' evaluation of the agency's past, current and planned actions regarding radioactive contamination of groundwater and soil at US power reactors, NRC said.

The agency said the task force "determined that NRC is meeting its mission of protecting public health, safety, and the environment by correctly applying existing requirements and properly characterizing the relevant issues." It said the releases have not exceeded NRC limits or interfered with the proper functioning of the plants' safety systems.

The task force recommended the agency first identify policy issues associated with assessing the NRC's groundwater protection regulatory framework, then implement "appropriate enhancements" and consider developing specific actions to address the report's conclusions.

A senior management review group -- chaired by Martin Virgilio, NRC's deputy executive director for reactor and preparedness programs -- has been asked to deliver to the commission by the end of November a paper presenting options for addressing the policy issues, Executive Director for Operations William Borchardt said Thursday in a memorandum establishing the group.

Tony Pietrangelo, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer at the Nuclear Energy Institute, said in a statement Thursday the industry has "significantly upgraded" groundwater monitoring and reporting programs, and is cleaning up leaks when they occur.

Pietrangelo said the industry has a zero-tolerance standard for unplanned releases into groundwater, but noted that the leaks have not posed a risk to public health, according to analyses by state health departments and the NRC task force report.

The industry will work with the agency as it considers the task force's recommendations, he said.

--Steven Dolley, steven_dolley@platts.com