Unacceptable Risk: Two Decades of “Close Calls,” Leaks and Other Problems at U.S. Nuclear Reactors

Unacceptable Risk: Two Decades of “Close Calls,” Leaks and Other Problems at U.S. Nuclear Reactors

2011-03-29

Executive Summary

As the eyes of the world have focused on the nuclear crisis in Fukushima, Japan, Americans have begun to raise questions about the safety of nuclear power plants in the United States.
American nuclear power plants are not immune to the types of natural disasters, mechanical failures, human errors, and losses of critical electric power supplies that have characterized major nuclear accidents such as the one at Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan. Indeed, at several points over the last 20 years, American nuclear power plants have experienced “close calls” that could have led to damage to the reactor core and the subsequent release of large amounts of radiation.
These incidents illustrate the inherent dangers of nuclear power to people and the environment, and demonstrate why the United States must move away from nuclear power and toward safer alternatives.
http://www.uspirg.org/home/reports/report-archives/more-reports/more-reports2/unacceptable-risk-two-decades-of-close-calls-leaks-and-other-problems-at-u2_s_-nuclear-reactors2

Right now, U.S. PIRG is holding a press conference in Boston concerning a report they published today on nuclear plants and groundwater. We did some digging on the academic backgrounds of the four c-authors of the report, and here's what we found: 

http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/2012/01/groundwater-study-co-authors-lack.html

I've also attached a copy of the report to this message. NEI will be blogging about it shortly.

Eric McErlain

Nuclear Energy Institute