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Move to weaken U.S. nuclear security regulation, despite oil spill disaster

Certain nuclear energy supporters are trying to weaken regulation of new nuclear reactors in any proposed climate and energy or energy-only legislation.

Did the Nuclear Industry and Politicians Learn Anything from the BP Oil Spill? : CleanTechnica, by Zachary Strachan, 24 June 2010, A major factor causing the BP oil spill to be the disaster that it is turning out to be is deregulation of the oil industry. You would think that if people, especially politicians, learned one thing from this disaster, it would be that we need strong government oversight of risky technologies.It seems right now that some in the nuclear industry and Congress have missed that completely or just haven’t heard the news about the BP oil spill at all.

Certain nuclear energy supporters are trying to weaken regulation of new nuclear reactors in any proposed climate and energy or energy-only legislation.

“Even as tens of thousands of gallons of oil continue to erupt each day from BP’s botched oil well, federal lawmakers are weighing legislation that includes BP-style deregulation of new nuclear reactors, which are the only energy source where the damage from a major accident would dwarf the harm done by a ruptured offshore oil well,” experts from The Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) Safe Energy program wrote yesterday.

PSR has listed four provisions that are part of the proposed American Power Act that could set us up for a nuclear-style BP oil spill.

These are: Section 1108 – “Undermining NRC Safety Review Before Reactor Startup”; Section 1109 – “Gutting Environmental Analysis in New Reactor Licensing”; Section 1101 – “Pressuring the NRC to Further Truncate Reactor Licensing”; Section 1105 – “Eliminating Independent Safety/Environmental Review of New Reactors by NRC Judges”.

Did the Nuclear Industry and Politicians Learn Anything from the BP Oil Spill? : CleanTechnica

June 25, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, radiation, reactors, wastes