Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Thursday, July 18th, 2019

‘An insanely bad move’: Experts sound alarm as Trump’s nuclear safety agency weighs rollback of plant inspections

Author:    
Source:     Raw Story
Publication Date:     July 17, 2019
 Link: ‘An insanely bad move’: Experts sound alarm as Trump’s nuclear safety agency weighs rollback of plant inspections
Stephan:   The dying nuclear power industry has done what all  large rich threatened corporate entities do. They have bought a government that will protect them. As to you and your safety, that is hardly a factor. Am I exaggerating, or lying? Read this report.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said one member of Congress, “needs to do more—not less—to ensure nuclear reactor safety.”

After months of experts raising alarm over the nuclear power industry pressuring U.S. regulators to roll back safety policies, staffers at the federal agency that monitors reactors sparked concerns Tuesday with official recommendations that include scaling back required inspections to save money.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has spent months reviewing its enforcement policies—and, as part of that process, sought input from industry groups, as Common Dreams detailed in March. In response, the industry representatives requested shifting to more “self-assessments,” limiting public disclosures for “lower-level” problems at plants, and easing the “burden of radiation-protection and emergency-preparedness inspections.”

According to The Associated Press, which first reported on NRC staffers’ suggestions:

The recommendations, made public Tuesday, include reducing the time and scope of some annual inspections at the nation’s 90-plus nuclear power plants. Some other inspections would be cut from every two years to every three years.

Some of the staff’s recommendations would require a vote by the commission, which has a majority of […]

Read the Full Article