Watchdogs: Expand safety zones around nuke plants

From the Press and Journal:

Nuclear watchdog groups, including Three Mile Island Alert, are asking the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to vastly expand the emergency evacuation zones around commercial nuclear reactors from 10 miles to 25.

The petition also seeks changes in emergency planning, and more scrutiny for food contamination.

In the wake of the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima-Daiichi plant in Japan last March, a 10-mile emergency zone is not large enough to protect public health and safety, the groups said.

“The accident at Fukushima, added to the experience of the Chernobyl disaster, demonstrates that ... severe accidents are clearly more likely than any government previously has estimated ... ,” said the petition, spearheaded by the anti-nuclear Nuclear Information and Resource Service, and signed by 37 clean energy groups.

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