By Dave Lochbaum Fission Stories #185 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) originally licensed nuclear power reactors to operate for up to 40 years. Beginning in 2000, the NRC relicensed nuclear power reactors to operate for up to an additional 20 years. And there has been interest within the nuclear industry about for relicensing for Read…
By David Wright Some of the best sleuthing and analysis these days is being done by the group at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. So when Catherine Dill and Jeffrey Lewis emailed me to help fit a few pieces together I was happy to Read Full…
By Dave Lochbaum Last year, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) created a Community Action Panel (CAP) as its Watts Bar Unit 2 reactor neared the end of construction and prepared to request that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issue an operating license. Fig. 1. Watts Bar Nuclear Plant (Source: UCS) Nearly two dozen individuals form…
By Dave Lochbaum Nuclear Energy Activist Toolkit #51 Cops responding to a reported disturbance sometimes find an individual holding a smoking gun standing over a dead body oozing blood from bullet holes. Such crime cases are easy to solve even without a confession from the person holding the gun or a declaration from the Read…
By Gregory Kulacki A new UCS white paper on Chinese nuclear strategy indicates China’s military may increase alert levels in response to U.S. investments in missile defense and conventional prompt global strike technologies. Chinese military strategists believe the combination of these two technologies could permit a disabling U.S. first strike Read Full Article Here For…
By Dave Lochbaum Fission Stories #184 Nuclear industry and NRC representatives often talk and write about their Open Door policies. For example, Doug Coe and June Cai, leaders of a task force formed to examine the NRC’s internal safety culture, briefed their Chairman and Commissioners on the agency’s Open Door policy for Read Full Article…
By Laura Grego A new version of the UCS Satellite Database, which includes launches through January 31, 2015, has been posted at http://ucsusa.org/satellites and includes 1265 active satellites. We have also added two new columns to the database which we hope will be useful: Country/Organization of UN Registry. This indicates the Read Full Article Here…
By Ed Lyman Today, on the fourth anniversary of the Fukushima accident, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is on the verge of a major decision that could determine whether or not the types of regulatory errors that set the stage for the accident in Japan will be effectively fixed in the United States. Read Full…
By Dave Lochbaum Nuclear Energy Activist Toolkit #50 NEAT #29 explained how you can sign up to receive email notifications from the NRC when it issues things like press releases and reports on specific nuclear reactors. What I wasn’t keeping secret but had failed to mention was that you can also sign Read Full Article…
By David Wright Today UCS released its 5th annual report on the NRC and nuclear power safety. UCS started these reports in 2010 to examine each year examples of when the NRC acted to ensure nuclear safety as well as when it fell down on the job. These reports summarize incidents from Read Full Article…