David Lochbaum (again) and Carolina Power and Light

[Steven Dapra <sjd@swcp.com>]

	Below are portions of an Associated Press article that was posted on an
anti-DOE web site.  (CP&L is Carolina Power and Light.)

	"The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, a panel of the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, ordered CP&L this month to evaluate the risk of a
hypothetical disaster drawn up by critics.  . . .

	"CP&L has been trying since late 1998 to expand its storage of radioactive
waste at its nuclear plant in Wake County. The plant has two unused pools
made for reactors that were never built. The pools inside a cavernous
building would be filled with radiation-deadening water.

	" 'We have already responded that we believe it is remote and speculative,' 
CP&L spokesman Mike Hughes said about the hypothetical disaster.  'What we 
are attempting to do now ... is to provide more detailed information that 
without a shadow of a doubt demonstrates that Orange County's accident 
scenario is indeed not credible.'

	"Opponents of CP&L's radioactive waste plan say the panel's order confirms
a fact rarely discussed outside obscure NRC documents.

	" 'If you look at the worst case of a reactor accident and spent fuel pool
accident, they're very similar,' said David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer 
turned industry whistle-blower.  Concern about the safety of spent fuel
handling prompted Lochbaum to leave his job at a Pennsylvania power plant
and take a position at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a watchdog group
in Washington.  NRC officials said that Lochbaum's criticism of spent fuel
handling prompted the agency to strengthen safety measures at some reactors." 

	Would someone with power reactor experience comment on this please?  Is it
true that a worst case reactor accident and a spent fuel pool accident are
"very similar"?  

	The URL is <http://www.egroups.com/message/doewatch/8818>.

	Thank you.

Steven Dapra
sjd@swcp.com







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