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Gregory Jaczko not a toadie to the nuclear industry

For once, a regulator who isn’t a toadie, Boston Globe, Edward T. Russell, FEBRUARY 27, 2012  JOHN E. SUNUNU slams Gregory B. Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, for standing up to the nuclear industry. I for one am happy that the NRC chairman is not a nuclear industry toadie. There is a need for balance on a commission that has long been a revolving door for industry executives.

Why should Sununu’s column bother Bostonians? Because Plymouth’s Pilgrim nuclear plant is only 40 miles from Boston, and we should remember that the United States recommended that its nationals stay 50 miles away from Fukushima. In the case of a similar disaster at Pilgrim, Bostonians could be in the evacuation zone. I cannot imagine the consequences of that.

Jaczko’s concerns are also germane to Bostonians because Fukushima has the same outmoded plant design as the Pilgrim plant in Plymouth. There are lessons to be learned from the Fukushima disaster, and Jaczko wants to benefit from them before moving forward.

I have attended NRC hearings for almost two decades, and found that they sit there and listen but then go away and do nothing. There has never been a relicensing that they haven’t liked. I’ll get on board when Pilgrim’s waste fuel is safely placed in dry cask storage where
it can’t go awry as it did at Fukushima. In the meantime, I thank Jaczko , chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, for standing up to the nuclear industry.  http://bostonglobe.com/opinion/letters/2012/02/27/for-once-regulator-who-isn-toadie/p0tmZxbgYOeQrltZLJfftM/story.html

February 28, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general