Ninety-six nuclear facilities in the United States are unsafe and insecure due to risks from terrorism and sabotage, a new study shows contradicting a prior industry analysis.
The new research by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine shows that used reactor fuel or spent nuclear fuel contained in 96 aboveground aquamarine pools are posing serious threats.
Neglect of the threats could cost the US economy $700 billion, cause cancer and force some 3.5 million people to be relocated from an area larger than New Jersey, showed the study released on May 20.
The study named “Lessons Learned from the Fukushima Nuclear Accident for Improving Safety and Security of US Nuclear Plants” is the second and the last phase of a study ordered by Congress on the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan.
The findings of the study challenge those of another one conducted in 2014 by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the US industry’s…