Inside EPA: "Agencies Struggle to Craft Offsite Cleanup Plan for Nuclear Power Accidents"

On Nov. 10th, Inside EPA's Douglas Guarino broke the story "Agencies Struggle to Craft Offsite Cleanup Plan for Nuclear Power Accidents." It revealed that NRC, EPA, and FEMA disagree about which agency would be responsible for long term cleanup after a major radiation release, and where the funding to do so would come from. Due to the heightened interest surrounding this story, Inside EPA has made the article, including embedded links to the corresponding FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) response documents, available to non-subscribers via the above link.

We haven't seen a quote like this from an NRC Commissioner in a LONG time!

''If a Secretary of Agriculture endorsed better meat inspection, you wouldn't have a debate of near religious fervor about whether that person was pro- or anti-meat, whether he had sold out to the vegetarians.

You'd debate whether the stricter regulations made sense. It's somehow unique to nuclear power that, when one refuses to have nuclear power on the industry's terms, one gets chucked into a bin labeled 'anti-nuclear.' ''

-Peter A. Bradford, former Commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 3/9/82

So where is Peter Bradford when we need him? Very much engaged in these issues, actually. Serving on the board of Union of Concerned Scientists and teaching at Vermont Law School, Peter Bradford very actively speaks out on the uneconomic nature of new reactors on a very regular basis. His latest essay is entitled "Honey, I Shrunk the Renaissance: Nuclear Revival, Climate Change, and Reality."