OVERSIGHT AUTHORITY
Oversight of the nation’s
nuclear reactors rests with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC).
NRC’s lax oversight and enforcement of safety regulations is documented
by the Union of Concerned Scientists, Nuclear Resource Information
Service, Public Citizen, Project on Government Oversight, Greenpeace,
among others. The most glaring recent example is the David-Besse
reactor. NRC’s own guidelines should have required closing down Davis-Besse
before the severe corrosion that resulted in a gaping hole in the
reactor head was discovered. NRC instead caved into the owner’s desire
to keep rolling in profits instead of shutting down for needed
maintenance.
January 2003, fifteen hundred (1500) NRC employees were polled by
International Survey Research to assess their confidence in the agency.
The poll found that nearly half of the NRC employees did not feel it
“safe to speak up in the NRC” and 1/3 questioned the NRC’s commitment to
safety. (Project Government Oversight Report, “Who the Hell is
Regulating Who? The NRC’s Abdication of Responsibility,” September
1996).
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