Tuesday, June 21, 2011

At least ...

We won't have to turn the light on* when we go to the bathroom in the middle of the night:

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. – Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation's aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found.

Time after time, officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, according to records and interviews. [my em]

...


It's just a mater of time until something not good happens. When the bottom line is involved, safety is the first thing to go out the window.

Update:

And it ain't just the nuclear industry**, it seems:

Wondering whether natural gas and oil transportation pipelines are safe? Why not ask a neutral objective party -- like, say, the pipeline industry? The federal government’s Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is supposed to study and regulate pipeline safety. But as the San Francisco Chronicle discovered, in practice, the agency tends to hand that responsibility back over to the pipeline industry.

...


*Thanks to Chris for the link.

**Thanks to Blue Girl for the link.

1 comment:

wkmaier said...

I can see Oyster Creek Nuke from mom's house on Long Beach Island.

(like the new look BTW, my first comment using the new bells and whistles!)