Japan nuke crisis does not warrant U.S. changes (via Salon)

The nuclear crisis is Japan, while severe, does not warrant any immediate changes in the U.S, a top U.S. nuclear official said Monday.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s executive director for operations, Bill Borchardt, said officials have “a high degree of confidence” that operations at the 104 nuclear reactors in 31 states are safe. He said inspectors at each of the plants have redoubled efforts to guard against any safety breaches.

I feel all better now. “A high degree of confidence” and “redoubled efforts.” Is this some kind of bad disaster movie where the Russian Premier forgets to tell the United States of a doomsday device because it’s his birthday?

We can hope that we get through the Japanese crisis without a meltdown. But there is no way, any objective observer can believe that the nuclear industry isn’t about to have its most dramatic shakeup.

Let me remind you for the umpteenth time – none of this was supposed to be able to happen. It was outside the realm of possibility. You can go to the internet, date a search before the earthquake and tsunami, run nuclear safety as a search, and pull up dozens of studies and hundreds of web sites explaining the complete and total improbability of a nuclear meltdown – not to mention, the most vicious slurs as to the motives and intelligence of those questioning nuclear power.

So, the world of nuclear energy is going to have a shake up. Unfortunately, there is no possibility of any discussion as to whether or not nuclear power should be a part of this nation’s energy policy. That decision has already been made and it’s carved in stone.

So, we can only hope that changes are made that render a U.S. nuclear disaster less likely.

James Pilant