Why Any Thinking Person Should Question the NRC

     Why Any Thinking Person Should Question the NRC

The Vermont legislature, when considering whether or not to allow Vermont Yankee to operate for an extra twenty years, was forbidden from considering safety issues. The people of Vermont, however, must scrutinize the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is in charge of reactor safety, to know if we should trust their actions.

Their record does not inspire confidence. In spite of leaks, near meltdowns, non-compliance with regulations, and false testimony by reactor owners and operators, the NRC has approved every application for reactor re-licensing that they've received. In stark contrast to the actions of nuclear regulators all across the industrialized world, President Obama, without knowing the extent of the reactor damage in Japan, clueless about how much radiation was rising into the atmosphere or pouring into the oceans, boldly and erroneously announced that no radiation would reach our shores. And his NRC proceeded to blithely issue a license renewal to Vermont Yankee, a virtual twin to the Fukushima reactor, without so much as a pause to consider the implications of the disaster on operations in the U.S. Don't worry they said, no tsunami would ever hit Vernon. (Did anyone tell them about the hurricane and flood of 1927?)

At a recent hearing in Brattleboro, when asked directly about how the pool of spent fuel rods, suspended six stories high, protected by sheet metal, should be expected to withstand a direct hit of an F4 tornado like the one that recently devastated buildings in nearby Springfield MA, NRC representatives responded only by intoning that it has been designed to withstand natural disasters, including the fuel pool. A chorus of exasperated voices demanded to know how, but were answered with a shrug. Considering that there is more radioactive spent fuel at VY than there is at all of the Fukishima reactors put together, this is unacceptable

Then we can consider the statements and actions of the NRC. When VY license renewal was approved by the NRC, chairman Gregory Jazco explicitly stated that this did not preclude Vermont from the process; NRC approval was just one step for Entergy. This was echoed in Brattleboro by the NRC regional commissioner as well, stating that Vermont's actions “don't involve any of our authorities or responsibilities”. However, according to Bernie Sanders, the NRC, after meeting with Entergy lawyers, voted to ask the Justice department to intervene in the court case on Entergy's behalf. The NRC, illuminating the Obama administration's commitment to open government, refused to answer the Senator. Why are they willing to act in secrecy and take their lumps from the public? Unfortunately, we cannot really know. And this is why, until they change their procedures and accountability, we have no choice but to question validity of NRC rulings about safety. They have worked hand in glove with the nuclear industry for decades while we will have to live with the aftermath of their mistakes. It would be the height of irresponsibility to give them out trust.

We need only remember George W. Bush's claim that no one expected the levees in New Orleans to fail during hurricane Katrina to realize the consequences of complacency. When all we hear are unsubstantiated statements telling us not to worry, its time to start worrying.