Arnold Gundersen, a former nuclear industry executive, said the proposed Westinghouse reactor design — known as the AP1000 — is more susceptible than today’s reactors to cracks and holes which have shown up in at least 40 currently operating plants.
Despite the discovery of a continuing series of cracks and holes in protective structures at the nation’s nuclear power plants, federal regulators are bowing to industry pressure and forging ahead to approve new nukes.
Nuclear watchdog groups say that an internal report by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on fire safety at nuclear plants shows that regulators don’t have enough information to know whether its new fire rules will ensure safety.
This is very important regarding current safety and new reactors, thus for the overall climate-energy debate. NC WARN teams up with Beyond Nuclear and UCS again.
At the very least this tragedy in the gulf should push us to look much harder at the systems we need to prevent a catastrophic accident at a nuclear power plant, and for responding to such an event if it occurred. Right now, we’re not ready.
Public officials, watchdogs seek investigation after NRC ignores fire safety experts’ warnings about risks at operating plants; modeling failure impacts new reactors
