Getting Tough

A nuclear watchdog growls

Ever since the accident at Three Mile Island in 1979, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has been under intense public pressure to make sure that workable plans exist for evacuating the people who live near one of the 83 American nuclear power plants in case of another emergency. Last week the NRC showed by two tough decisions that it really takes its watchdog role seriously. In a unanimous ruling, the five-member agency voted to shut down by June 9 two troubled reactors that serve metropolitan New York City unless local...

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