Federal Court Mulls Safety of New Jersey's Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant

[jpak]

http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2011/apr/19/federal-court-mulls-safety-new-jerseys-oyster-creek-nuclear-plant/

Opponents of the nation's oldest commercial nuclear reactor located in New Jersey want a federal appeals court to rescind the plant's re-licensing in light of the crisis at the Fukushima facility in Japan.

The petitioners — including the Sierra Club — allege that in 2009 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission failed to do a thorough and independent review of the Oyster Creek nuclear plant, located in New Jersey 75 miles south of New York City.

In its response, the NRC stood by its 2009 license renewal and said it is already moving aggressively to incorporate lessons learned from the ongoing Fukushima crisis. The severity of the Japanese crisis was labeled a level 7, a radiological disaster on the scale of a Chernobyl.

The NRC asserted that even post-Fukushima, it has full confidence "in the robust and redundant safety design and construction of currently operating U.S. nuclear reactors."

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[elleng]

1. 'Bad' headline, as courts don't want to have to 'mull safety,'

that's one important reason for establishment of regulatory agencies. Courts 'mull' whether agencies did their jobs properly.

[enough]

2. Then it quickly comes full circle to where the question of whether the agencies

did their jobs properly is the question of safety.

[elleng]

3. Yes, xactly,

and as they're often co-opted by those they're intended to regulate, problems ensue.

[Kolesar]

4. Like Fukushima, it is a GE model Mark 1 "Widow maker" ... eom