Aging Nukes

[ensho]

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/aug/07/aging-nukes-agency-relaxes-rules-while-plants-log/


Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation’s aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press found earlier this summer.

Time after time, officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have decided original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, according to records and interviews.

The result? Rising fears that these accommodations by the NRC are significantly undermining safety — and inching the reactors closer to an accident that could harm the public and jeopardize the future of nuclear power in the United States.

-snip showing how they reduce maintence requirements when cracks, leaking, etc. happens-

Industry and government officials defend their actions and insist no chances are being taken. But the AP investigation found that with billions of dollars and 19 percent of America’s electricity supply at stake, a cozy relationship prevails between the industry and its regulator, the NRC.

-long, long
snip of all the things wrong and allowed to happen at nuke plants. makes your hair stand on end-

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there is a pic of people on a beach just beside a nuke plant that towers over everything, that I can't get to copy. the pic captions says:

Bret Gross and his wife, Barbara, residents of San Clemente, Calif., walk June 30 on the beach just outside the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, about five miles from their home. He worries the area cannot be quickly evacuated in a severe nuclear accident. “Forget the amount of training and plans,” he said. “It’ll be ugly.”