Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission says American nuclear plants need to be better
prepared for the sudden and continued loss of electric power.
Above, the Limerick Generating Station, a nuclear power plant in
Pottstown, Pa. America's nuclear reactors need new safeguards to
ensure that the kind of accident that destroyed reactors in
Japan last March doesn't happen here. That's the conclusion from
a 90-day study of the accident undertaken by experts at the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Fukushima accident in Japan
damaged or destroyed four reactors and spread radiation for
miles around the plant, and it shook confidence in nuclear power
around the world. Shortly afterward, a task force of engineers
at the NRC got their marching orders: figure out how to keep
this from happening in the U.S. The short-term review is done,
and the task force has concluded that the government needs to
redefine what a safe nuclear plant looks like, and then make it
happen. Nuclear Regulatory