The Nuclear Regulatory Commission may soon approve a new power plant designed by Westinghouse. The company claims passive safety features make the AP1000 the safest and cheapest reactor available. But critics, including the NRC’s most senior safety engineer, charge the novel reactor shield building could “shatter like a glass cup.”
The Westinghouse AP1000 reactor is smaller, cheaper and is in high demand all over the world. But is it safer? Host Bruce Gellerman looks into a review from a top American nuclear regulator that warned the AP1000 is “brittle as a glass cup.”