Secrecy Shrouds Accident at Nuclear Plant
By MATTHEW L. WALD, the New York Times
WASHINGTON, July 3 — A factory that makes uranium fuel for nuclear reactors had a spill so bad that it kept the plant closed for seven months last year and became one of only three incidents in all of 2006 serious enough for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to include in an annual report to Congress. After an investigation, the commission changed the terms of the factory’s license and said that the public had 20 days to request a hearing on the changes.
But no member of the public ever did. In fact, no member of the public could find out about the changes. The document describing them, including the notice of hearing rights for anyone who felt adversely affected, was stamped “official use only,” meaning that it was not publicly accessible. “Official use only” is a category below “Secret” and, while documents in that category are not technically classified, they are kept from the public.
July 10th, 2007 at 8:40 am
I don’t blame nuclear power supporter for thinking that nuclear power is safe. How can you not come to that conclusion when information regarding accidents is routinely hidden by the government?
It is this kind of environment of secrecy that damages the pro-nuclear argument the most. How can one claim to support something when they don’t have all the data?