The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety

2011 Report: Living on Borrowed Time

Download: The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2011: Full Report | The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2011: Executive Summary

Previous Reports

The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety is an annual series. Below are links to PDFs of previous editions:

2010 Report: A Brighter Spotlight Needed

• Full Report
• Executive Summary

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency responsible for ensuring that U.S. nuclear plants are operated as safely as possible, gets mixed reviews again in our second annual assessment of NRC response to safety problems, The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2011: Living on Borrowed Time.
The report examines 15 “near-misses” at U.S. nuclear plants during 2011 (see table below) and evaluates the NRC response in each case. Since NRC inspections cannot reveal more than a fraction of the problems that exist, it is crucial for the agency to respond effectively to the problems it does find.
In addition to these 15 near-misses, the report offers examples of both positive and negative outcomes from NRC inspections:

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