Living on Borrowed Time

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) says that the role of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should be that of "The Cop on the Nuclear Beat".

They have just published their report The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2011 - Living on Borrowed Time.

For those of you who like to read please take the time to read this report Here is the link for the full report - http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/nuclear_power/nrc-nuclear-safety-2011-full-report.pdf

It is a fair report, pointing out when the NRC does it job and being critical when it does not do the job it was set up to do. I found it easy to read and at times even riveting in their explanation of how events unfolded during the fifteen near-misses at U.S. nuclear plants in 2011.

You can be for nuclear power or against it, but I don't see how anyone can not want the very best safety procedures in place, as we continue to use this powerful and on occasion, very dangerous source of energy.

As the Union of Concerned Scientists state in the summary of the report:

• The NRC simply is not doing its job when it tolerates widespread and longstanding violations of federal safety regulations.

• And Congress simply is not doing its job when it allows the NRC to force Americans to face higher risks unnecessarily. Chernobyl and Fukushima are vivid reminders of what happens when safety requirements are not met.

• The NRC simply must aggressively enforce its safety regulations. Anything less is unacceptable.