Word: nrc
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...human errors and mechanical failures began two weeks before the mishap. As part of a test, valves in three auxiliary pumps in the plant's secondary loop, which carries superheated water to the turbines that drive the electrical generators, were shut down. Incredibly-and in violation of NRC regulations-they were not reopened before the plant was put back into operation...
...safeguard system, including the obvious flaw of not having a remote-control method of adjusting a stuck valve. But human fallibility apparently was the more alarming shortcoming of what happened at Three Mile Island. Once the original on-site mistakes had been made, the blame spread to the NRC itself. Commission officials privately admit that they were slow to get an emergency crew with the necessary skill and authority to the scene of the disaster. Had the right men been there at the right time, three days before they finally did show up, they might have limited the damage...
...with tremendous responsibilities: the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is charged with making sure that nuclear plants are safe before it licenses them, and then enforcing strict operating rules. President Carter's inquiry into the reasons for the near disaster in Pennsylvania will inevitably examine the performance of the NRC...
...Japan. The AEC had the job of both promoting and safeguarding the development of atomic power. In 1974 President Gerald Ford signed a bill splitting the AEC into two agencies with separate functions: the Energy Research and Development Administration, which encourages the growth of nuclear power, and the NRC, which is concerned with safety...
This history is behind the main charge leveled against the NRC by the Union of Concerned Scientists, which is composed of 70,000 members, including 2,500 scientists and engineers, and three dozen nuclear experts. The nonprofit organization charges that the NRC has been far too lax about safety standards for nuclear power. Says U.C.S. Spokesman Robert Pollard, a former NRC safety inspector who resigned when his recommendations were overridden: "The top men at the NRC grew up [in the AEC] with the dream of nuclear energy. For that dream to work, it has to be economical. Even though they...