As experts in Japan race to stave off an accident at the
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, the U.S. nuclear
industry says a similar emergency is unlikely to happen in this
country. Even though 23 of the 104 nuclear reactors are of the
same General Electric design as the Fukushima reactors causing
the crisis in Japan, a nuclear industry spokesman said there are
guidelines in the United States that would decrease the
likelihood of such a disaster here. "We think we're pretty well
equipped," said Tony Pietrangelo, a spokesman for the Nuclear
Energy Institute, an industry lobbying group. "We do plan for
blackouts, earthquakes, and tsunamis," he said. "Clearly what
happened in Japan is well beyond what they were designed for.
It's highly unlikely but we have a station blackout rule to deal
specifically with what happened in Japan. We think we're pretty
well equipped." The 23 General Electric-designed reactors are
more than 40 years old and are spread throughout the U.S., in
cities such as Toms River, N.J.;