(CNN) — As the United States prepares to build its first new
nuclear power reactors in three decades, concerns about an early
generation of plants have resurfaced since last year’s disaster
in Japan. The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant — the subject
of a battle between state authorities and the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission over its continued operation — uses one of 23 U.S.
reactors built with a General Electric-designed containment
housing known as the Mark I. It’s the same design that was used
at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where three
reactors melted down after the station was struck by the tsunami
that followed Japan’s historic earthquake in March 2011. The
disaster resulted in the widespread release of radioactive
contamination that forced more than 100,000 people from their
homes. Continue reading at U.S. nuclear plants similar to
Fukushima spark concerns