With the Japanese authorities working to avert a catastrophic meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and four other Japanese plants showing problems, the safety of America’s nuclear plants — and the wisdom of any expansion — is beginning to come under a new round of scrutiny.
Although exactly what happened at Japan’s nuclear power plants is still being sorted out, most of the nuclear plants in the United States share some or all of the risk factors that played a role at Fuku shi ma Daiichi: locations on tsunami-prone coastlines or near earthquake faults, aging plants and backup electrical systems that rely on diesel generators and batteries that could fail in extreme circumstances.
On Sunday, Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., sent a letter to President Barack Obama calling for a moratorium on new nuclear plants until more coherent procedures for nuclear emergencies were ironed out.
