Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it doesn't have the authority to prevent foreign radioactive waste from being imported into the United States. The NRC wrote in an April 9 letter to Reps. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) and Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) that the Atomic Energy Act doesn't distinguish between domestic and foreign waste. The NRC says that as long as the material can be imported safely and someone is willing to accept it, the commission can't keep it waste out.

The Senate confirmed the nomination of Shirley Ann Jackson, a Rutgers University physicist, to a five-year term to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The nomination was approved by voice vote Thursday night. Jackson will replace Ivan Selin as the NRC's chairman. Selin recently announced plans to leave the agency after four years.

The Senate confirmed the nomination of Shirley Ann Jackson, a Rutgers University physicist, to a five-year term to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The nomination was approved by voice vote Thursday night.

Despite the launch of its third special inspection in a year at Southern California Edison Co.'s San Onofre nuclear plant, federal regulators Thursday night assured the public that the coastal power plant is safe. About 100 residents and officials from nearby communities came to hear the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's annual report on the plant, located near San Clemente.

Congressional investigators set up a bogus company with only a postal box and within a month obtained a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that allowed them to buy enough radioactive material for a small "dirty bomb." Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), who will ask the NRC about the incident at a Senate hearing today, said the sting operation raised concerns about terrorists obtaining such material just as easily.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush and other federal officials have frequently warned that the nation's nuclear power plants are vulnerable to terrorist attack. But when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission took up a proposal to expand spent nuclear fuel storage facilities at the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, the agency said the possibility of a terrorist assault was so "speculative" that no environmental review was needed.

Re "Review of Terrorist Threat to Reactor Ordered," June 3 There is no question that the risk of a terrorist attack on the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant should be considered in any safety review. But the important question should be: Is this a significant issue? We need to be honest about what is going on. Anti-nuclear power groups are trying to hobble and eventually shut our nuclear plants. Politicians are trying to scare us because it makes them appear as if only they can protect us from terrorists.

Re "Groundwater Reveals Radiation Leak at San Onofre," Aug. 18 Unacceptable. That's the only way to describe the leaks of cancer-causing tritium at the San Onofre nuclear power plant. The possibility of contaminated drinking water is just one of the reasons nuclear power plants are not worth the risks they pose to public health, safety and the environment. California should not trust the Nuclear Regulatory Commission nor the plant's owners to properly protect the public. Illinois sued one of its nuclear plant owners after a similar leak contaminated drinking water there.

The chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday that he would oppose any proposal to give the agency authority over military reactors and other facilities used in the production of nuclear weapons. While agreeing that the U.S. Department of Energy, which has jurisdiction over the reactors and other facilities connected with the weapons program, "does need strong oversight," NRC Chairman Lando W. Zech Jr. stressed that the commission should not be involved.