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INTERVIEW: Former U.S. nuke watchdog chair says regulators must stay independent
INTERVIEW: Former U.S. nuke watchdog chair says regulators must stay independent
...The biggest problem with the NRC continues to be the heavy influence that the industry has in selecting the members of the commission. It is a very political process.
There are few commissioners who ever get onto the commission who are not endorsed by the industry, including myself and the current chairman.
There are many good people, who are very technologically sophisticated, but especially in the last few years that I was on the commission, there was very strong influence from the industry on the commission members. You need to have much more diversity in the views of the commissioners.
It would be virtually impossible for someone who is publicly skeptical of nuclear power to ever be confirmed as a commissioner on the NRC. That is fundamentally wrong.
If you look at the state of nuclear power in the United States, it is not very good.
....
...The biggest problem with the NRC continues to be the heavy influence that the industry has in selecting the members of the commission. It is a very political process.
There are few commissioners who ever get onto the commission who are not endorsed by the industry, including myself and the current chairman.
There are many good people, who are very technologically sophisticated, but especially in the last few years that I was on the commission, there was very strong influence from the industry on the commission members. You need to have much more diversity in the views of the commissioners.
It would be virtually impossible for someone who is publicly skeptical of nuclear power to ever be confirmed as a commissioner on the NRC. That is fundamentally wrong.
If you look at the state of nuclear power in the United States, it is not very good.
....
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201303140050