nuclear-news

USA has a Nuclear Party, as well as Republicans and Democratss

this isn’t just about Republicans vs. Democrats….”There is a sort of nuclear party that transcends Republican and Democratic labels,” …… “The four signers of the letter are all very much in the nuclear party, and the chairman is not.”

U.S. Nuclear Agency Suffers Leadership Meltdown NPR, by CHRISTOPHER JOYCE December 14, 2011 The government organization charged with keeping nuclear power safe is
having a meltdown. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission consists of five commissioners who direct the work of hundreds of nuclear engineers and other experts. They write the rules for how nuclear reactors operate.

Now four of those commissioners say the chairman of the NRC is a bully who’s destroying their ability to do their job.

The feud at the NRC is long-standing, but it boiled over last week
when a letter the four commissioners wrote to the White House was made
public. In no uncertain terms, they said they simply can’t stand NRC
Chairman Gregory Jaczko.
Republican Jason Chaffetz of Utah read the charges the commissioners
made in their letter to the White House and demanded answers from
Jaczko:

Chaffetz: “True or false: Ignored the will of the majority of the
commission contrary to the statutory functions of the commission.”
Jaczko: “I have never ignored the will of the majority in an area that
is a commission policy.”
Chaffetz: “I’ll take that as a false. True or false: Interacted with
us, his fellow commissioners, with such intemperance and disrespect
that the commission no longer functions as effectively as it should.”
Jaczko: “Well, I’m a very passionate person about safety.”…..
committee member John Tierney, a Massachusetts Democrat, noted that
the four commissioners might share some blame. Jaczko’s supporters in
Congress — and he has many, having worked there before he went to the
NRC — have accused the other commissioners of dragging their feet in
releasing NRC’s report on the Fukushima accident and what it meant for
U.S. reactors:

Jaczko: “I think we have had some challenges with …”
Tierney: “Did you feel that there was an attempt to slow down the
release of that report on Fukushima?”
Jaczko: “There definitely was an attempt to prevent the release of the report.”
Tierney: “It seems we’ve got a problem with everybody here.”
Jaczko denied the accusations, except to say that he can be outspoken
about safety. But advocates of nuclear power have targeted Jaczko
because he helped deep-six the idea of putting a nuclear waste dump in
Nevada, called Yucca Mountain.

A view from the outside of the Washington hothouse comes from Peter
Bradford, who spent five years as an NRC commissioner. He says this
isn’t just about Republicans vs. Democrats.

“There is a sort of nuclear party that transcends Republican and
Democratic labels,” Bradford says. “The four signers of the letter are
all very much in the nuclear party, and the chairman is not.”

When asked at Wednesday’s hearing if they could patch this up, all
four commissioners said maybe. And in fact, according to the NRC
website, the commission is described as a “collegial body” that
regulates nuclear safety. On Thursday, a Senate Committee will query
the witnesses again.
http://www.npr.org/2011/12/14/143718170/a-leadership-meltdown-strickens-u-s-nuclear-agency

December 15, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA