Have Past Accidents Helped Make Today's Nuclear Plants Safer?

American Academy of Arts and Sciences Paper Assesses How Industry, Regulators Have Applied Lessons Learned

Following each of the world's worst nuclear accidents-Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima-governments and plant operators adopted safety and security measures to help prevent future disasters. Most recently, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has designed a new set of rules to harden American reactors against earthquake-triggered failures like those that crippled Japan's Fukushima-Daiichi plant last year.

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But has the response from industry and nuclear regulators always been adequate? Lessons Learned from "Lessons Learned": The Evolution of Nuclear Power Safety after Accidents and Near-Accidents, a new paper from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, examines the changes in safety procedures and protocols that were or were not implemented after major nuclear disasters. The authors evaluate several less catastrophic accidents and near-mishaps as well, noting that those less serious incidents also offer critical lessons.

The paper provides recommendations for increasing plant safety and security as commercial nuclear power spreads globally. Authors, Michael M. May and Edward D. Blandford stress the need for better communication among nuclear states. "Mechanisms to facilitate and, where needed, enforce mutual learning have not always been adequate," they write. "Information-sharing, import/export agreements based on safety standards, agreements to facilitate cooperation among regulatory authorities, and the participation of financial interests such as investors and insurers all have a role to play in improving mutual learning among different states."

This paper, published as part of the American Academy's Global Nuclear Future (GNF) Initiative, is available online athttp://www.amacad.org/projects/globalnuclearbooks.aspx . More