David Lochbaum Quotations

Nuclear power can never be made inherently safe. There is always a danger. But there's also always a danger with any form of electricity generation. The goal is to have that risk managed to an acceptably low level.

The authors didn't tie this increase to the plants, nor do we. Our concern is with the uncertainty of what's happening where; this kind of stuff can't be taken off the table.

In all of recorded time, the NRC has only granted one petition. In some cases, they do every single thing I ask for and then deny the petition. I'm not keeping score as long as the things get fixed.

Even if you go with the cheapest thing ? which is a concrete pad ? that is a better solution than filled pools, by leaps and bounds.

The company could have tried to explain away a lot of what they've found with some hand-waving. They seem to be going after a comprehensive set of answers.

The reactor is better protected than the spent fuel pools. It might be that spent fuel is a more attractive target for our enemies than the reactor itself.

This was the closest near miss to an event since Three Mile Island. It was also a prolonged period of bad behavior. The company's fine is entirely appropriate.