“The situation at Palisades is that you have a power plant operator newbie in Holtec trying to restart a nuclear reactor, and they may be under a lot of financial and political pressure to get this done speedily,” said Allison Macfarlane, who served as NRC chair from 2012 to 2014.

“The ‘chilled work environment’ warning issued by the NRC raises concerns that staff don’t feel like they can speak up to raise safety concerns and prevent accidents,” she added. “That perhaps reflects the new culture sweeping through part of the industry — move fast and break things. But to ensure safety, nuclear needs a culture based on going slowly and carefully.”

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https://www.ft.com/content/bcc464cc-9d12-4b15-866d-64642de66ca8