It’s About Timing

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been caught like a deer in the headlights. All of a sudden, the NRC is demanding detailed information from all 104 nuclear plants in the U.S. “to ensure reactors can withstand damage or prolonged loss of power due to terrorists attack.” The NRC is requiring reports on safety equipment availability in the event of a terrorist attack, as well as the training of personnel who would be relied upon in case of an emergency.

This is the agency that has long assured us that its priority is the protection of public safety. But the fact that these requirements are new makes it clear that for decades the NRC has allowed nuclear plants to operate without documentation that radiation releases could be limited in the event of a terrorist attack.

The San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, which has been a legal intervener in Diablo Canyon licensing cases since 1973, first raised the issue of sabotage in 1976. More recently, Mothers for Peace unsuccessfully urged the NRC to restore the spent fuel pools to their original design. With sufficient spacing between the rods, a radiation-releasing fire could be prevented in the event that a terrorist attack, an earthquake, or human error were to cause a loss of coolant.