Oyster Creek Leaks into the News

By Harvey Wasserman
An Associated Press story today (9/9) says "the nation's oldest nuclear power plant is showing its age."
According to the AP, a series of radioactive water leaks "were found just days after the plant got a new 20-year license that environmentalists bitterly fought."
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Oyster Creek's owners have assured the public that it can operate safely until it reaches the age of 60. If it hasn't melted by then, there are no guarantees that when it reaches 60 its owners won't ask to run it until it's 80, and so on.
According to the AP story, which has been featured on the front page of the New York Times's on-line edition, "one environmentalist calls the plant a 1969 Buick in a Prius world." Perhaps Pinto---the Ford famous for exploding upon rear impact---would be a better vehicular analogy.
The AP concludes by assuring us that "the NRC is looking for better ways to detect and prevent leaks like those at Oyster Creek at the more than 100 US nuclear plants."
Are you sufficiently re-assured?