Near Melt-Down in TN Covered up, almost

Oops, seems like you just can't keep things secret anymore. You know, all those nasty little spills which could have, like gone fissile and maybe killed a few thousand people.

Crap like that.

Dig this NY Times article by Matthew Wald.

Seems the NRC is more interested in protecting it's subcontractors than the people of Tennessee. The NRC allowed a 20 day period for public comment, but they missed one important point.

But no member of the public ever did. In fact, no member of the public could find out about the changes. The document describing them, including the notice of hearing rights for anyone who felt adversely affected, was stamped “official use only,” meaning that it was not publicly accessible.

“Official use only” is a category below “Secret.” Documents in that category are not technically classified but are kept from the public.

The agency would not even have told Congress which factory was involved were it not for the efforts of Gregory B. Jaczko, one of the five commissioners. Mr. Jaczko identified the company, Nuclear Fuel Services of Erwin, Tenn., in a memorandum that became part of the public record. His memorandum said other public documents would allow an informed person to deduce that the factory belonged to Nuclear Fuel Services.

Thank you, Mr Jaczko. You are a hero.