NEWS FROM BEYOND NUCLEAR
For immediate release: Thursday, December 11, 2014
Contact: Paul Gunter, Director
Federal Nuclear Regulator Opts Not To Reconsider Critical Safety Enhancements at U.S. “Fukushima” Reactors
Decision designed to save industry money but exclude experts and public
TAKOMA PARK, MD -- The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has buckled to industry pressure and will recommend that the Commission disallow independent experts and the public from participating in a process to reconsider minimal but critical safety enhancements at the nation’s Fukushima-style nuclear power plants.
The NRC staff today said that a rulemaking proposed by the NRC Commission to further analyze filtered venting for containment protection and radiation release reduction following a severe accident is “not necessary.” The nuclear industry has vehemently opposed the installation of external filtered containment vents on the basis of cost and “unintended consequences.”
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