Hurricane Sandy spurs authorities to declare an “alert” at the nation’s oldest nuclear plant. The record storm pushed flood waters high enough to endanger a key cooling system at the 43-year-old Oyster Creek plant, which is on the New Jersey coast 60 miles east of Philadelphia. The alert came after water levels at the plant rose by more than 6.5 feet above normal. A further rise to 7 feet could submerge the water pump motor that is used to cool the water in the spent nuclear fuel pool, potentially forcing the plant to use emergency water supplies to keep spent rods from overheating. But the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said, “Right now there’s no imminent threat of releases.” Reuters
France’s top nuclear regulator faults safety practices at reactors around the world. Andre-Claude Lacoste, the outgoing head of France’s nuclear safety authority, said the failures that led to last year’s Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan are being repeated elsewhere. He said nuclear safety focuses too much on technology and not enough on the human side of preventing accidents. Lacoste also said regulators in some countries, which he declined to name, lack enough independence from industry and government to be able to identify nuclear safety shortfalls. In some cases, he said, officials are reluctant to raise the alarm about potentially dangerous situations due to conflicts of interest. Bloomberg News
Authorities probe the nation’s biggest Honda ATV and motorcycle dealership over safety issues. The investigations by federal and state authorities of Southern Honda Powersports in Chattanooga, Tenn., came to light amid complaints by a former marketing consultant to the dealership about its practices and regulatory inaction. The consultant says U.S. regulators failed to act five years ago, and in 2010, when he reported that about 25,000 motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes were assembled unsafely when he worked for the dealership from 2004 through 2007. The consultant and some ex-employees also say the dealership routinely sold vehicles under safety recalls without correcting the problems. USA Today, Chattanooga Times Free Press
Two studies credit anti-smoking laws with reducing heart attacks. One study, by scientists at Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic, analyzed the impact of laws over the last 10 years in Olmstead County, Minn., that eventually made all workplaces smoke-free. Researchers found a 33 percent drop in heart attacks and a 17 percent decline in sudden cardiac deaths. The second study, by researchers at University of California, San Fransisco, analyzed 45 previous studies on the impact of smoke-free laws worldwide. They found that areas that restrict public smoking saw a prompt and sustained decline in smoking-related hospital admissions and deaths, including an average 15 percent decline in heart attack hospitalizations. Time, Reuters
European Union gives final approval to tougher sulfur limits on shipping fuel. The rules will be phased in as part of the EU’s efforts to free the air of toxic chemicals that shorten thousands of lives. The maximum sulfur content of shipping fuels will be cut by 90 percent in controlled areas that include some of Europe’s busiest waters. Outside of those controlled areas, limits set by the International Maritime Organization — which are far more restrictive than the EU’s current levels — will take effect by 2020. Still, an environmental activist said the EU should follow the example of the U.S. and Canada and extend tougher anti-pollution controls to its entire coastline. Reuters
Compiled by Stuart Silverstein
