Nuclear Power & Radiation

"BROWNVILLE, Neb. — Like inhabitants of a city preparing for a siege, operators of the nuclear reactor here have spent days working to defend it against the swollen Missouri River at its doorstep. On Sunday, eight days after the river rose high enough to require the operators to declare a low-level emergency, a swarm of plant officials got to show off their preparations to the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission."

"Three U.S. senators, alarmed by findings of an Associated Press investigation about aging-related problems at the nation’s nuclear power plants, are asking for a congressional investigation of safety standards and federal oversight at the facilities."

"Global action to protect the nuclear industry against possible terrorist attacks is urgently needed, a leading expert said, as are safety steps to prevent any repeat of Japan's Fukushima accident."

"Steps to boost atomic safety after Japan's Fukushima accident must be 'cost-effective,' an industry body said on Tuesday, a day after the UN nuclear chief suggested power firms could help pay for expanded safety checks."

"Radioactive tritium has leaked from three-quarters of U.S. commercial nuclear power sites, often into groundwater from corroded, buried piping, an Associated Press investigation shows."

"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."

"As record floodwaters along the Missouri River drench homes and businesses, concerns have grown about keeping a couple of notable structures dry: two riverside nuclear power plants in Nebraska."

"The U.N. nuclear chief proposed international safety checks on reactors worldwide to help prevent any repeat of Japan's atomic crisis, a plan which may face resistance from nations worried about outside involvement."

"A system to clean massive amounts of contaminated water at the site of Japan's nuclear disaster was shut down Saturday, just hours after it began full operations, because a component filled with radioactivity much more quickly than expected."

"Japan plans to ask pregnant women and children to move away from radiation 'hotspots' that were found far away from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, the government said on Thursday, reflecting new anxieties about the spread of radioactivity."