nuclear-news

Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s careful censorship of the facts

America’s nuclear safety under scrutiny after Oyster Creek’s Sandy alert US nuclear regulators model risk from seismic activity or flooding based on past history. That’s leaving way too much to luck Richard Schiffman guardian.co.uk, 1 November 2012 “…..The Huffington Post reported earlier this month that:

“According to the NRC’s own calculations … the odds of the dam near the Oconee plant [operated by Duke Energy in South Carolina] failing at some point over the next 22 years are far higher than were the odds of an earthquake-induced tsunami causing a meltdown at the Fukushima plant.”

This alarming news, however, was blacked out of the NRC’s public report. It was leaked by the lead author, Richard H Perkins, who said that his work had been censored because it revealed that:

“The NRC has been in possession of relevant, notable, and derogatory safety information for an extended period but failed to properly act on it.”

In another section of the report, about the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant in Nebraska, NRC redactors removed information indicating that the failure of the Oahe or Fort Randall dams could result in levels of rampaging water higher than the plant’s flood protection walls. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission evidently believes that it is better to hide the facts about nuclear risks than to fix the problem.

Critics allege that not only does the NRC withhold critical information, but also fails in many cases to enforce regulations that are already on the books. David Lochbaum warns:

“I’m most concerned about the NRC’s practice of allowing unsafe reactors to operate. UCS’s Nuclear Power Information Tracker shows 47 reactors that NRC knows to violate fire protection regulations and 27 reactors with seismic protection known to be less than the seismic hazards they face. These pre-existing vulnerabilities mean that the American public is protected more by luck than by skill.”

And if superstorm Sandy, and the increasing frequency of other extreme weather events in recent years is any evidence, America’s luck may be running out. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/01/nuclear-safety-oyster-creek-sandy-alert?fb=native&CMP=FBCNETTXT9038

November 2, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA