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NRC inspectors can and should keep a much closer eye on construction of nuclear plants and the quality of equipment. They are supposed to do so now, but far too much of their time is taken up poring over reports submitted by contractors. That paper work could be turned over to clerks, giving the NRC in spectors more time to go out to sites and look around. When they do so, disinterested observers agree, they do a good job. An analogy can be drawn with the space program. In its early days it was plagued by sloppy work and accidents, but now the National Aeronautics and Space Administration enforces tight safety controls on contractors. If the Nuclear Regulatory Com mission had been equally tough with the utility industry, some veteran observers of the space program believe, the Three Mile Island accident would not have happened.
Power utility managers might well be pleased to turn over to the Government the burden of responsibility for monitoring and safety. Shepard Bartnoff, head of the Jersey Central Power and Light Co., one of the owners of the Three Mile Island plants, said at hearings in Washington last week that he wished an NRC in spector had been in the control room to coordinate emergency operations when the trouble started.
SITING. A Ford Foundation-sponsored study indicates that a nuclear ac cident at a poorly chosen site—one close to a heavily populated area or at a location where winds would carry radioactive particles toward big cities—would cause 1,000 times more damage to life and property than a mishap at a more remote spot.
Alvin Weinberg, director of Tennessee's Institute for Energy Analysis, and a physicist considered by some anti-nukes to be about the most thoughtful proponent of nuclear power, calls for severely limiting new sites for nuclear power plants. He would permit expansion only on 90 of the 100 sites where reactors are now operating or planned. Among the ten sites where he would allow no new construction: Indian Point, N.Y., near New York City; Zion, Ill., close to Chicago—and Three Mile Island. Concentrating construction at the other 90 sites, he believes, would result in the building of huge atomic complexes, staffed by groups of experts like those at the sprawling Government atomic works in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
LEGISLATION. President Carter is again expected to submit a bill to Congress to speed up licensing procedures for nuclear plants. No action was taken on a similar bill last year. Congressmen understandably are wary about putting new nuclear plants into operation more quickly. But the bill calls for standardizing reactor designs, with appropriate safeguards, and for building up a bank of preselected sites on which reactor construction would be permitted. Those provisions would enhance safety.