Not so fast…

Though it may be largely symbolic in significance, it gave me no little pleasure to read that Bernie Sanders is blocking the nomination of William Ostendorff to another term on the  Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  

Completely apart from the issue of their meddling on behalf of Entergy in defiance of Vermont’s sovereignty on VY, the NRC pattern of repeatedly lowering the bar on safety standards for the benefit of plant operators is sufficient reason to block reappointment of any currently serving members.

As we listen to protestations  on the nightly news that, though threatened by flood or fire, this or that U.S. nuclear facility can’t possibly fail; how is the public expected to swallow such assurances with any confidence, given all that has been revealed in the wake of Fukushima about the questionable practices of our own nuclear regulatory agency?

It’s time for a complete scrub-down of the NRC, a whole lot of daylight, and a totally new roster of independent commissioners who will not approach the job in actuarial fashion, in service to the industry rather than to the public good.

About Sue Prent

Artist/Writer/Activist living in St. Albans, Vermont with my husband since 1983. I was born in Chicago; moved to Montreal in 1969; lived there and in Berlin, W. Germany until we finally settled in St. Albans.

13 thoughts on “Not so fast…

  1. Not so fast indeed.

    The NRC has some amazing timing.

    In the middle of the Fukishima meltdown they recommended Vermont Yankee get its license renewed and today with striking images of two flooded plants almost underwater and a wild-fire encroaching on Los Alamos lab storage area what do they do? Over local objections they grant another confirmed tritium leakier Prairie Island another 20years to chug along.

    Among other problems Prairie Island is one of three plants nationwide that are leaking tritium from an unknown source(not quite at levels violating drinking water standards) into private wells of surrounding homes.

    MINNEAPOLIS — Federal regulators have renewed the operating licenses for the Prairie Island nuclear power plant, which will allow it to run for 20 more years, Xcel Energy Inc. announced Tuesday.

    http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap

  2. is making a statement that needs to be made for the record.

    His unapologetic dedication to the principles involved in this as well as all of the other issues affecting VT is admirable to say the least.

  3. I came across this hurl-worthy commentary in our small local VT paper from NEI no doubt:

    Comment on the NRC, its funding

    Editor of the Reformer:

    “[..]I would like to point out what is misleading about the following statement in the piece: “By the same token, the (Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s) must realize its worn ‘Don’t worry, we know what we are doing’ panacea doesn’t hold much water[..]kowtowing to the industry, which, by the way, provides 90 percent of the funding for the NRC via fees.”

    http://www.reformer.com/letter

    Entire letter is worth reading (unsure if posting it would violate fair use statutes) if only as another stunning example of the way the industry including NRC & sponsors distort & spin these issues to misinform the gullible public as they & only they would be likely to accept this load of crap.

  4. I agree with almost everything that you say here.  What is happening at the NRC is a national scandal and should be getting at least as much attention as Weinergate did.  

    However, I am baffled by the claim of “Vermont’s sovereignty on VY”.  I don’t believe that I’ve ever heard anyone make this claim before — and I don’t believe that there is any basis for it.  Surely, there is a role for federal regulation over nuclear power, eliminating the ability for any single state to have “sovereignty” on the issue.  

    The feds have an important role to play … but they aren’t fulfilling that role competently.  

Comments are closed.