The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has rejected the recommendation of the high-level task force it convened after the March 2011 Fukushima disaster to require nuclear plant owners to develop and maintain plans for coping with a core-melt accident. This decision will allow nuclear plants to continue to maintain those plans voluntarily and deny the agency the authority to review those plans or issue citations if they are deficient.
“Once again, the NRC is ignoring a key lesson of the Fukushima accident: Emergency plans are not worth the paper they are printed on unless they are rigorously developed, maintained and periodically exercised,” said Edwin Lyman, a senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). “When it comes to these critical safety measures, the NRC is allowing the industry to regulate itself.”
You can read the rest @
http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/NRC-Rejects-Requiring-Core-Melt-Plans-0522#.VeR7dPlVikq
I worked in the US nuclear industry for 25 years and was trained as a Senior Reactor Operator on the very type of plants which are located at Fukushima. If similar conditions occurred at US plants, the result may indeed have been identical to what the Japanese experienced. A prolonged loss of core cooling results in meltdown, period - no matter where the reactor is located.
Nuclear power is a VERY bad idea, one of humanity's worst.
No comments:
Post a Comment