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President Barack Obama has requested a comprehensive review of US nuclear facilities, maintaining his support for atomic energy while seeking to apply lessons from the crisis in Japan. Obama expressed confidence that Japan would recover from the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency that seemed to have overwhelmed its government, but said radiation from a stricken plant there posed a "substantial risk" to people nearby. "Our nuclear power plants have undergone exhaustive study, and have been declared safe for any number of extreme contingencies," Obama told reporters at the White House. "But when we see a crisis like the one in Japan, we have a responsibility to learn from this event, and to draw from those lessons to ensure the safety and security of our people." The US nuclear industry said it was taking steps to protect the country's nuclear plants from a catastrophe like the one in Japan. Nuclear energy provides about 20 percent of US electricity. The Nuclear Energy Institute said company officials representing all 104 of the US' nuclear reactors have agreed to a plan to make sure all companies are prepared for catastrophic events such as natural disasters or explosions. The companies will verify that plants can cope with flooding and situations where there is a total loss of electricity to the plants. They will also inspect equipment needed to respond to fires and floods. "These are the actions we are taking now," Anthony Pietrangelo, the chief nuclear officer at the institute, told reporters during a teleconference. Reuters |
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