AP: Population density around (US) nuke plants soars

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/27/national/main20074641.shtml

June 27, 2011 10:11 AM

Population density around nuke plants soars

(AP)

BUCHANAN, N.Y. — As America's nuclear power plants have aged, the once-rural areas around them have become far more crowded and much more difficult to evacuate. Yet government and industry have paid little heed, even as plants are running at higher power and posing more danger in the event of an accident, an Associated Press investigation has found.

Populations around the facilities have swelled as much as 4½ times since 1980, a computer-assisted population analysis shows.

But some estimates of evacuation times have not been updated in decades, even as the population has increased more than ever imagined. Emergency plans would direct residents to flee on antiquated, two-lane roads that clog hopelessly at rush hour.

And evacuation zones have remained frozen at a 10-mile radius from each plant since they were set in 1978 — despite all that has happened since, including the accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima Dai-ichi in Japan.

Meanwhile, the dangers have increased.

…

[wtmusic]

1. Apparently the residents aren't as concerned as CBS News is.

Here's a modest 2BD-2B home in San Clemente CA, 2 miles from San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

Since Fukushima, the price has plummeted to only $905,000.

http://www.sanclementerealestate.com/idx/residential/S663994/details.html

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. People are odd that way

Many seem unconcerned about “Climate Change.”

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3. It can be confusing to separate the threats which have scientific basis

from those which do not.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. True enough

So, let’s not use the general public’s concern, or lack of concern about a threat (perceived or actual) as an indication of whether or not it is a reasonable source of concern.

[wtmusic]

5. Absolutely, CBS News should be the arbiter of what is a reasonable cause for concern

Their profits have no relation to fear-mongering -> viewership. :crazy:

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. Actually, your issue is with the Associated Press (not CBS News)

This is the most recent story in a series on aging nuclear reactors.

Previous stories, which I'm sure you took issue with, included reporting that safety rules have been loosened on these reactors.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43455859/ns/us_news-environment/t/safety-rules-loosened-aging-nuclear-reactors/

Safety rules loosened for aging nuclear reactors

'We can't compromise on safety. I think the vulnerability is on these older plants,' says retired safety designer

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.

The result? Rising fears that these accommodations by the NRC are significantly undermining safety — and inching the reactors closer to an accident that could harm the public and jeopardize the future of nuclear power in the United States.

Examples abound. When valves leaked, more leakage was allowed — up to 20 times the original limit. When rampant cracking caused radioactive leaks from steam generator tubing, an easier test of the tubes was devised, so plants could meet standards.

…

[wtmusic]

7. And it's just a coincidence that these sleuths uncovered fatal flaws

post-Fukushima? Please.

Safety rules have been loosened because they were, in fact, too strict. The only casualty? "Rising fears."

And guess who stokes (and profits from) those rising fears?

[OKIsItJustMe]

8. No doubt they were inspired by Fukushima to investigate risks associated with domestic nuclear power

Does that invalidate their findings? (See “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_the_well">poisoning the well.”)

[wtmusic]

9. When they actually find something, let me know.

Sorry, but I just don't lose sleep over a rusty pipe.

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. Tell me what the pipe is carrying, and I'll decide for myself.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/business/energy-environment/16nrc.html

Nuclear Plant Safety Rules Inadequate, Group Says

By MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: June 15, 2011

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Nuclear safety rules in the United States do not adequately weigh the risk that a single event would knock out electricity from both the grid and from emergency generators, as an earthquake and tsunami recently did at a nuclear plant in Japan, officials of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday.

A task force created after the accident at the nuclear plant, Fukushima Daiichi, delivered an oral progress report on Wednesday to the five-member commission. In that session, commission officials said they had learned that some of the safety equipment installed at American nuclear plants over the years, including hardware added after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, is not maintained or inspected as diligently as the original components are.

A crucial reason for the extensive damage to the Fukushima plant’s reactors was the loss of electricity needed to run water pumps and to reposition valves. The American nuclear industry has argued in recent months that its reactors are better prepared to cope with that kind of emergency.

But Charlie Miller, the chairman of the task force, said that studies by safety experts in the United States had analyzed the risk of losing electricity from the grid or from on-site emergency generators, but not both at the same time.

…