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Related: About this forumAP investigation: Nuclear plant relicensing "resembles nothing more than an elaborate rubber stamp"
How long can nuclear reactors last? US, industry extend spans
'What they're saying is really a fabrication,' retired reactor designer says
Mel Evans / AP
Editor's note: Links to the first three parts of this four-part series are at the end of this report.
ROCKVILLE, Md. When commercial nuclear power was getting its start in the 1960s and 1970s, industry and regulators stated unequivocally that reactors were designed only to operate for 40 years. Now they tell another story insisting that the units were built with no inherent life span, and can run for up to a century, an Associated Press investigation shows.
By rewriting history, plant owners are making it easier to extend the lives of dozens of reactors in a relicensing process that resembles nothing more than an elaborate rubber stamp.
As part of a yearlong investigation of aging issues at the nation's nuclear power plants, the AP found that the relicensing process often lacks fully independent safety reviews. Records show that paperwork of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission sometimes matches word-for-word the language used in a plant operator's application.
Also, the relicensing process relies heavily on such paperwork, with very little onsite inspection and verification.
And under relicensing rules, tighter standards are not required...
'What they're saying is really a fabrication,' retired reactor designer says
Mel Evans / AP
Editor's note: Links to the first three parts of this four-part series are at the end of this report.
ROCKVILLE, Md. When commercial nuclear power was getting its start in the 1960s and 1970s, industry and regulators stated unequivocally that reactors were designed only to operate for 40 years. Now they tell another story insisting that the units were built with no inherent life span, and can run for up to a century, an Associated Press investigation shows.
By rewriting history, plant owners are making it easier to extend the lives of dozens of reactors in a relicensing process that resembles nothing more than an elaborate rubber stamp.
As part of a yearlong investigation of aging issues at the nation's nuclear power plants, the AP found that the relicensing process often lacks fully independent safety reviews. Records show that paperwork of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission sometimes matches word-for-word the language used in a plant operator's application.
Also, the relicensing process relies heavily on such paperwork, with very little onsite inspection and verification.
And under relicensing rules, tighter standards are not required...
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43556350/ns/us_news-environment/#.T7GDYO3N7dl
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AP investigation: Nuclear plant relicensing "resembles nothing more than an elaborate rubber stamp" (Original Post)
kristopher
May 2012
OP
xchrom
(108,903 posts)1. Du rec. Nt
leveymg
(36,418 posts)2. Exelon :heart: Obama
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)3. Remember the BP & Gulf Plans?
BP took off the shelf the plans it had from Alaska and the regulators approved them for drilling in the Gulf.
Something like... ""...no seals will be harmed..."
The government has been bought. Even republicans are claiming that corruption is rampant. They oughtta know, they are the ones corrupting government.
Nihil
(13,508 posts)4. Strangely enough ...
> The government has been bought.
... I completely agree with you!