IN THE push to build new nuclear power plants, safety assessments may be biased and concerns ignored. So say nuclear analysts on the 30th anniversary of the worst reactor accident in US history.
The US and other countries are preparing for a new wave of nuclear power plant construction to help reduce carbon emissions. But critics worry that history could repeat itself. In 1979, thousands fled the vicinity of the Three Mile Island reactor in Pennsylvania after it melted down. 鈥淎mong the lessons of Three Mile Island is that nuclear power is least safe when complacency and pressure to expedite are highest,鈥� Peter Bradford, who was a member of the US (NRC) at the time of the Three Mile Island meltdown, warned US senators at a hearing last week. He is now a director for the in Washington DC.
Critics are concerned that a forthcoming NRC assessment of public health risks from nuclear accidents will paint an overly rosy picture. The study will not factor in accidents considered to have a less than a 1-in-a-million chance of happening per year, for example.
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Scott Burnell, a spokesman for the NRC, says the study will be realistic. 鈥淭here isn鈥檛 anything political here at all 鈥� it鈥檚 crunching the numbers according to well-thought-out criteria,鈥� he says. An independent panel of experts will scrutinise the results to ensure their scientific integrity before they are released next year, he adds.
