Urgent need for independent members on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Nuclear agency needs independent appointees

AJC 17 Sept 09 by Peter A Bradford
Two of five seats are vacant on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the independent federal agency responsible for the safety of the 104 operating U.S. nuclear power reactors, as well as several applications for new reactors in the southeastern U.S., including two in Georgia. President Barack Obama’s impending NRC appointments will determine whether the agency cleans up leadership deficiencies that have long undermined public confidence in the NRC and that could jeopardize nuclear safety…………….

In recent years, the NRC has eviscerated the structure for resolving public safety concerns the agency previously had observed for 40 years. To give one of many examples, lawyers can no longer cross-examine witnesses but must submit their questions to the licensing board chair, who decides whether to ask them. Since these public hearings have never been a major source of licensing cost or delay (and have uncovered serious safety concerns), such measures can only be intended to spare the industry and the NRC from the embarrassment and inconvenience that can come from active public involvement.

Other examples abound. They are not offset by any episodes of overreaching on behalf of the general public……………….

the tendency of the NRC commissioners and their overseers in Congress and the White House to act as industry boosters, to shut out the public rather than responding to their concerns, and to slight the NRC’s environmental responsibilities is the same pattern of complacency and risk-taking that has so recently proven catastrophic in our nation’s financial regulation. http://www.ajc.com/opinion/nuclear-agency-needs-independent-140954.html

September 18, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy