US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is failing to recognize the full range of dangers posed by a potential dirty bomb attack and needs to take more action to secure high-risk radioactive material, according to a government watchdog report.
Officials in protective gear check for signs of radiation on children who are from the evacuation area near the Fukushima Daini nuclear plant in Koriyama on March 13, 2011.Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
"Few deaths would occur due to the radioactive nature of the event," the report said."However, significant social and economic impacts could result from public panic, decontamination costs, and the denial of access to infrastructure and property for extended periods of time."Daiichi nuclear plant after an earthquake and subsequent tsunami, saying more people died from the evacuation process than from radiation releases or the effects of the natural disasters.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission disagreed with most of the report's findings, saying the GAO's view was based on unlikely scenarios and selected opinions from experts. The GAO report was based in part on a meeting of 18 experts across a range of fields arranged with the NRC and the National Academies of Sciences. But in its letter, the NRC said the GAO had relied on"selected aspects of the panel discussion to form the primary basis for its recommendations" and referred to"statements of one or two panel members to draw overarching conclusions.
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