“The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is routinely waiving fire rule violations at nearly half the nation’s 104 commercial reactors, even though fire presents one of the chief hazards at nuclear plants.” is the beginning of a recent report from www.propublica.org. It is timely given the situation in New Mexico.

The article continues, “The policy, the result of a series of little-noticed decisions in recent years, is meant to encourage nuclear companies to remedy longstanding fire safety problems. But critics say it is leaving decades-old fire hazards in place as the NRC fails to enforce its own rules.

“Fires present a special risk to nuclear plants because they can knock out cables that control-room operators need to safely cool down a reactor. The explosions [2] and fires [2] at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant have shown what can happen when operators can’t activate Read the rest of this entry »