nuclear-news

USA’s sorry nuclear record of recent safety violations and “near misses”

Risk of nuclear energy too high, Syracuse.com, By Jessica Maxwell , December 15, 2011, The Post-Standard  Marvin Fertel’s letter on behalf of the Nuclear Energy Institute (Dec. 11) paints a rosy picture of the U.S. nuclear industry.

It’s reMarkable, given the report released Friday, Dec. 9 by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., detailing collusion on the part of four Nuclear Regulatory Commission members — with strong nuclear industry ties and backing — to impede the work of the NRC Near-Term Task Force on Fukushima and delay or prevent NRC chairman Gregory Jaczko’s attempts to strengthen safety regulations post-Fukushima.
Just a few days earlier (Dec. 6), Jaczko voiced strong concerns that “U.S. nuclear plant operators have become complacent” in the wake of Fukushima. The source of his worries? A series of incidents this year at multiple U.S. reactors related to human error, botched repairs and inadequate preparedness for natural disasters: workers exposed to higher than normal levels of radiation at Cooper Nuclear Station in Nebraska and Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Ohio; the Crystal River nuclear plant in Florida remains closed after a series of failed repairs and upgrades (and is likely to remain closed for a total of at least five years); Fort Calhoun in Nebraska remains shut down following severe flooding; and the North Anna plant in Virginia only recently reopened after being shut down for three months due to damage sustained during the Northeast earthquake that exposed it to seismic activity reportedly twice what it was designed to withstand.
The NRC has conducted 20 special inspections this year (prompted by site-specific concerns) — more than at any point in recent memory. For the first time in over a decade, several U.S. nuclear plants were shut down at the same time. In 2010, the NRC documented 14 “near-misses” (significant safety- and security-related events) at U.S. reactors. None of these facts bode well for the nuclear industry’s ability to provide safe and reliable energy.

The nuclear industry isn’t willing to accept the most basic lesson of Fukushima — best expressed by former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan who, in July, announced Japan’s transition to conservation andrenewable energy, concluding simply, “the risk of nuclear energy is too high.” http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2011/12/risk_of_nuclear_energy_too_hig.html

December 16, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA