Friends of the Earth

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Meanwhile, despite President Reagan's efforts to push aside the economic and regulatory barriers to nuclear development, serious technical problems with pressurized water reactors (two-thirds of the reactors in the U.S. are of this type) are making the news. It seems that radiation and water chemistry have combined to cause corrosion problems at some plants. At best, the difficulties are leading to costly (in some instances, well over $100,000,000) repairs . . . at worst, coolant draining from a reactor through corroded pipes could produce a serious accident.

Reports released in October also show that reactor vessels become brittle after prolonged exposure to radiation. During unforeseen emergency situations, which would require rapid cooling of the reactor, the possibility of an older vessel's rupturing is much greater than was formerly thought. One official from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that such an accident would create a "50/50 chance of an uncontrolled nuclear meltdown".

THE "NEW" EPA

The new administration also promises to handle chemical regulation a bit differently than has been the case in recent years. Under the Toxic Substances Control Act, if strong evidence indicates that a chemical may cause cancer in humans and that significant numbers of people are exposed to it, the EPA must limit public exposure to the compound. Accordingly, EPA staff recommended, last spring, that formaldehyde (a widely used agent in manufacturing and consumer products) and DEHP (a plasticizer used in toys and infants' waterproof pants) be regulated. However, after months of delay and private hearings between EPA officials and industry representatives, the agency appeared to be moving away from regulation of these chemicals.

Lester Brown infiltrated the last of those meetings, and he reported on the proceedings to his boss, Representative Toby Moffett, a Democrat from Connecticut. Moffett blasted the EPA for excluding all but industry officials from the decisionmaking process and held hearings to look further into the situation. The episode generated a fair amount of publicity and proved to be rather embarrassing to the administration.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print