Maintaining a robust nuclear safety regime has been compared to fighting “guerrilla warfare” by Elmo Collins of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Delivering one of the keynote speeches at the opening session of POWER GEN INTERNATIONAL in Las Vegas yesterday (TUES), Collins said that the battle for nuclear safety “requires daily vigilance” and that a lengthy period of time without a nuclear incident should not be equated to a time of prolonged peace, but instead was “a time of increased risk”.

“Nuclear safety cannot be easily packaged and tied up with a bow,” he added.

He told delegates that the disaster at Fukushima in March “felt like it happened in our own back yard” and had “changed the conversations about nuclear power from the economical and safety perspectives”.

For more nuclear power related news