The Hill News

On the one year anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear accident, our thoughts and prayers are with those who lost loved ones in the Great Tohoku Earthquake and resulting tsunami. 

The Fukushima accident was a watershed event for the Japanese just as Three Mile Island was for us. The Japanese are learning many lessons from it and instituting changes, just as we added protections following Three Mile Island. The Japanese have learned the importance of an independent safety regulator, just as we created the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) as an independent agency in 1974. They have learned the need for strict siting and design requirements, just as we have through the NRC’s “design basis.” They have learned the critical importance of adequate power supplies, just as the U.S. industry and NRC did in the 1980’s.

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