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"San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant Prohibited From Restarting"
LA Times, 03/28/2012"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission lays out steps that Southern California Edison must take before the troubled San Onofre plant will be allowed to come back on line."
Damaged Japan Reactor Has High Radiation, No Water, Stability Doubts
AP, 03/28/2012"TOKYO -- One of Japan’s crippled nuclear reactors still has fatally high radiation levels and hardly any water to cool it, according to an internal examination Tuesday that renews doubts about the plant’s stability."
"Leaders Target Loose Nuclear Material"
Bloomberg, 03/26/2012"World leaders may pledge tighter controls over nuclear materials to keep them out of the hands of terrorists, according to the draft of a communique to be released at the end of their two-day meeting in Seoul."
130 Protesters Arrested At Vermont Yankee Nuke Plant's Corporate HQ
AP, 03/23/2012"BRATTLEBORO, Vt. -- A 93-year-old anti-nuclear activist was among more than 130 protesters arrested at the corporate headquarters of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant Thursday, the first day of the plant's operation after the expiration of its 40-year license."
"As Reactors Age, the Money to Close Them Lags"
NY Times, 03/21/2012"The operators of 20 of the nation’s aging nuclear reactors, including some whose licenses expire soon, have not saved nearly enough money for prompt and proper dismantling. If it turns out that they must close, the owners intend to let them sit like industrial relics for 20 to 60 years or even longer while interest accrues in the reactors’ retirement accounts."
"Japan's Majority Favor Phasing Out Nuclear Power: Poll"
Reuters, 03/19/2012"TOKYO -- A vast majority of Japanese favor the gradual phasing out of nuclear plants but accept that some reactors need to be restarted to secure enough power in the short term, a newspaper poll showed on Sunday."
"Feds Probe Equipment Failure at Calif. Nuke Plant"
AP, 03/16/2012"A nuclear reactor on the California coast will remain shut down indefinitely while a team of federal inspectors determines why several relatively new tubes became so frail that tests found they could rupture and release radioactive water, a federal official said Thursday."
"Older Nuclear Plants Pose Safety Challenge: IAEA"
Reuters, 03/14/2012"Eighty percent of the world's nuclear power plants are more than 20 years old, raising safety concerns, a draft U.N. report says a year after Japan's Fukushima disaster. Many operators have begun programs, or expressed their intention, to run reactors beyond their planned design lifetimes, said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) document which has not yet been made public."
Hospitals With Radioactive Materials Show Weakness in Antiterror Rules
NY Times, 03/14/2012"Ten years into a campaign to make radioactive materials harder for terrorists to steal, Congressional auditors have found one hospital where cesium was kept in a padlocked room but the combination to the lock was written on the door frame and another where radioactive material was in a room with unsecured windows that looked out on a loading dock."
U.S. Implements New Post-Fukushima Nuclear Safety Policies
Reuters, 03/12/2012"Regulators on Friday told the owners of the nation's nuclear reactors to implement new safety rules based on the lessons learned from the earthquake and tsunami that crippled Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant a year ago. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said it authorized its staff to issue three immediately effective orders implementing some of the more urgent recommendations."
"Nuclear Disaster in Japan Was Avoidable, Critics Contend"
NY Times, 03/12/2012"TOKYO -- A year after a huge earthquake and tsunami caused nearly catastrophic meltdowns at a nuclear plant, Japan is still grappling with a crucial question: was the accident simply the result of an unforeseeable natural disaster or something that could have been prevented?
"Danger Zone: Aging Nuclear Reactors"
Center for Investigative Reporting, 03/12/2012Is it safe to extend the life of the aging US fleet of nuclear power plants -- even those whose obsolete designs match those of the failed reactors at Fukushima?
"From Japan, Bearing Witness in Debate Over Indian Point"
NY Times, 03/08/2012As the anniversary of the 2011 Japanese nuclear power plant disaster nears, the question is asked: would a disaster at Indian Point nuclear power station -- 38 miles north of New York City -- be any less likely? Any less catastrophic? Are plans for preventing or responding to a catastrophe any less realistic?
"Nuclear Chief: Safety Moves Behind Schedule"
Wall St. Journal, 03/08/2012"Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko said Tuesday the agency wasn't on pace to meet its own timeline for improving safety at U.S. nuclear plants in response to the meltdown at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant a year ago."
"The NRC will soon issue its first orders in response to the Fukushima accident, but it is also weighing a host of regulatory changes that could impose extra costs on the operators of the 104 reactors in the U.S."
"Uncertain Health Risks Torment Japanese in Radiation Zone"
AP, 03/08/2012"FUKUSHIMA, Japan -- Yoshiko Ota keeps her windows shut. She never hangs her laundry outdoors. Fearful of birth defects, she warns her daughters: Never have children."

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