INADEQUATE FEDERAL OVERSIGHT OF NUCLEAR
INDUSTRY
NRC Lapdog
or Watchdog?
DO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES REALLY PROTECT
US?
Cartoon by Bill Sanders, Field Newspaper
Syndicate, reprinted from Irrevy by John Gofman, Committee for
Nuclear Responsibility
U.S. Nuclear Plants in the 21st
Century:
The Risk of a Lifetime, Union of Concerned Scientists, 2004
David Lochbaum, UCS
Today’s aging reactors, and any reactors granted 20-year extensions
to their current 40-year operating licenses, face the high-risk
wear-out segment of the bathtub curve. Despite efforts to monitor
the condition of aging equipment, there are recent age-related
failures caused by monitoring the right areas using the wrong
techniques and by monitoring the wrong areas using the right
techniques. In addition, nuclear plants seeking license renewal
conform not to today’s safety standards, but to a unique assortment
of regulations dating back nearly 40 years with countless
exemptions, deviations, and waivers granted along the way.
While the risks and reasons for the risks vary along the bathtub
curve, the consequences of failing to manage the risks remain nearly
constant—potentially massive releases of radioactivity into the
atmosphere with devastating harm to people and places downwind.
An aggressive regulator consistently enforcing federal safety
regulations provides the best protection against these risks. Sadly,
America lacks such protection. Since UCS began its nuclear safety
project nearly three decades ago, we have engaged the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission and its predecessor, the Atomic Energy
Commission, countless times. We advocated enforcement of existing
regulations far more often than for adoption of new regulations.
Regulations might provide adequate protection, but only when they
are followed. By failing to consistently enforce the regulations,
the NRC exposes millions of Americans to greater risk than
necessary. The federal government must reform the NRC into a
consistently effective regulator so it properly manages the risk at
all points along the nuclear bathtub curve.
Read the executive summary
Contents
Oversight Authority More
Problems with NRC Oversight More
Union of Concerned Scientists,
U.S. Nuclear
Plants in the 21st Century: The Risk of a Lifetime (pdf
file)
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