U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), Ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee and Senior Member of the Energy and Commerce CommitteeAs reported by Reuters in an article entitled "Private Spat within U.S. Nuclear Agency Laid Bare," U.S. Representative Ed Markey (D-MA, pictured left) has published a report entitled “Regulatory Meltdown: How Four Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners Conspired to Delay and Weaken Nuclear Reactor Safety in the Wake of Fukushima.” The report documents efforts by 2 Democratic appointees, William Magwood IV and George Apostalakis, and 2 Republican appointees, Kristine Svinicki and William Ostendorff, to block the creation of NRC's Near-Term Fukushima Task Force, as well as implementation at the 104 operating U.S. atomic reactors of its "lessons learned" from the triple reactor melt down -- and likely high-level radioactive waste storage pool fire -- at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.
In a press release, Markey said “The actions of these four Commissioners since the Fukushima nuclear disaster has caused a regulatory meltdown that has left America’s nuclear fleet and the general public at risk. Instead of doing what they have been sworn to do, these four Commissioners have attempted a coup on the Chairman and have abdicated their responsibility to the American public to assure the safety of America’s nuclear industry. I call on these four Commissioners to stop the obstruction, do their jobs and quickly move to fully implement the lessons learned from the Fukushima disaster.”
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