The low-key approach has some safety experts and political leaders worried that America is poised for an epic, yet preventable, nuclear disaster.
“The NRC is to nuclear power today what the SEC was to Wall Street three years ago,” said Richard Brodsky, a former Westchester, N.Y., assemblyman who draws comparisons between current nuclear regulation with the lax enforcement that preceded the recent fiscal crisis. Brodsky opposes the two reactors at Indian Point, N.Y., the commercial nuclear plant nearest New York City that could impact the largest number of people anywhere in the country.