Probing questions for the Perry plant: editorial

[irishbobcat]

Yup.....Safety is job one at our Ohio nuke plants......NOT!!!!!

Probing questions for the Perry plant: editorial
Published: Tuesday, July 19, 2011, 9:23 PM
By The Plain Dealer Editorial Board The Plain Dealer
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"Safety first" ought to be the watchword of any utility company that runs nuclear reactors. But an April incident that exposed four FirstEnergy Corp. workers to radiation at the Perry nuclear power plant in Lake County leaves in doubt the company's dedication to those words.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission blasted FirstEnergy for the incident, and will issue a final report ordering the company to improve safety.

Todd Schneider, a FirstEnergy spokesman, said the company takes safety seriously and won't protest the NRC's findings or the consequences: The company could be charged $273 per hour for each federal inspector who descends on Perry to interview management and workers during a follow-up inspection next year. It would be money well spent if the NRC's attention could get FirstEnergy's attention.

The NRC's work at Perry is important during a time when many are raising questions about the safety of U.S. nuclear power plants. Meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex in Japan after this year's earthquake and tsunami have rightly jangled nerves in many countries with nuclear plants.

A tsunami is unlikely on the shores of Lake Erie, of course, but other kinds of extreme weather certainly occur. In an emergency, lack of attention to routine safety concerns will only make matters worse.

The task force recommended that the NRC ask plants to re-evaluate and upgrade seismic and flooding protection and to make sure that every plant has plans for reacting to the kind of problem that did the greatest damage at Fukushima -- a prolonged loss of internal electrical power and backup generators to keep the core coolant flowing.

The NRC should not settle for pat answers at Perry or anywhere else. The experience of Fukushima shows that it's better to be safe, rather than very, very sorry.