California’s San Onofre nuclear plant had to be shut down unexpectedly this week after radioactive water was discovered leaking out of the unit 3 reactor within the plant. Nuclear officials claim the leak is fully contained within the concrete dome of the plant. Meanwhile – the Nuclear Regulatory Commission warned that nuclear plants in the eastern and central United States might not be able to withstand earthquakes.
The NRC is giving operators at 96 vulnerable plants across the nation 4 years to conduct seismic tests to determine if their plants can withstand new earthquake projections. But nuclear critics worry that the NRC is moving too slow to address this threat that has the potential of bringing a Fukushima-like disaster to the United States.