NRC Chief: Nuke Industry Must Heed Lesson of Japan

ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) — The nation's nuclear safety chief says he is worried that U.S. nuclear plant operators have become complacent, just nine months after the nuclear disaster in Japan.

Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said recent instances of human error and other problems have endangered workers and threatened safety at several of the 65 U.S. nuclear power plants.

In at least two cases, Jaczko said workers were exposed to higher than expected radiation levels. In addition, three plants were shut down for multiple months because of safety concerns, the first time that has occurred in more than a decade.

Jaczko said he was not ready to declare a decline in safety performance at U.S. plants, but said problems were serious enough to indicate a "precursor" to a performance decline.