Nuclear safety

Trial Will Start Friday in Toledo, OH

August 6, 2008 -- Andrew Siemaszko, a former nuclear safety engineer at the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant, will go on trial this Friday for allegedly lying to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) about conditions leading to a near-disaster at the plant in 2002. NRC documents, however, show that Siemaszko is not to blame. It was FirstEnergy, the plant's owners, which falsified reports to the NRC, not Siemaszko. In fact, Siemaszko was one work shift away from discovering the problem at Davis-Besse while cleaning the reactor head in 2000, but FirstEnergy prevented him from completing his task.    » read more »

Hazardous fuel behavior another setback for troubled energy department program, has implications for other reactors

August, 2008 -- Citing the recent failure of an experimental plutonium fuel assembly test at a South Carolina nuclear plant, two watchdog groups today called on the Department of Energy (DOE) to suspend a risky, multibillion dollar program that would use 37 tons of surplus nuclear weapons plutonium for U.S. nuclear reactor fuel.    » read more »

May 27, 2008 -- Washington, DC – Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-DE) issued the following statement today following Senator McCain’s speech on nuclear security:

Nuclear cruise missile    » read more »

5/27/2008 -- "Senator McCain today gave a speech about his "dream" to "reduce the nuclear threat" to the United States and the world. But Senator McCain’s goals will remain an illusion as long as he continues to embrace and magnify the failed policies of the Bush administration.

Mushroom cloud    » read more »

May 27, 2008 -- John McCain believes that we can build a safer world, one with fewer nuclear weapons and in which proliferation, instability, and nuclear terrorism are far less likely. To achieve this, John McCain outlined a series of initiatives that will enhance nuclear security and prevent proliferation.    » read more »

Adding New Plants to Aging Fleet Will Increase Risk Without Safety Reform, Science Group Says

WASHINGTON (March 27, 2008) — The partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant began on March 28, 1979. Since the accident, not a single new nuclear power plant has been ordered in the United States. Indeed, 74 plants under construction at the time of the accident were cancelled.

The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, which suffered a partial meltdown in 1979: The reactors are in the smaller domes with rounded tops (the large smokestacks are cooling towers).    » read more »

February 08, 2008 -- Montpelier, Vermont – Today Vermont DPS Director of Public Advocacy Sarah Hofmann attended a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) in Washington, DC. The ACRS is an independent review committee of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) made up of scientists with expertise in the area of reactor safety. In the past, the ACRS has provided guidance on Entergy’s requests for a 20 increase in output at Vermont Yankee. In relicensing cases, ACRS approval is required.    » read more »