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90% of Nuclear Regulators Sent Home Due To Shutdown

Posted by Soulskill on from the homer-simpson-asked-to-come-in-for-overtime dept.

An anonymous reader writes "More than 90% of nuclear regulators are being sent home due to the Federal Government shutdown, as the agency announced today that it was out of funds. Without Congressional appropriations, the nuclear watchdog closes its doors for what appears to be the first time in U.S. history. CNN reports that while a skeleton crew remains to monitor the nation's 100 nuclear reactors, regulatory efforts to prevent a Fukushima-like incident in the United States have ceased."

1 of 358 comments (clear)

  1. Unsafe Under 30 Days? by ScottCooperDotNet · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If your nuclear systems become unsafe in under 30 days, are they really safe at all?

    Some people are confused about why the lapse of appropriations is affecting the NRC when we collect fees for 90 percent of our budget. The bottom line is this: the NRC is not funded directly by the fees we collect. Fees collected by the NRC must be deposited in the U.S. Treasury, and the Congress provides us an appropriation.

    Sounds like the NRC should be funded solely by fees paid by the companies they regulate.