Not Seismically Qualified

Greg Palast, who in a former life investigated fraud and racketeering connected with nuclear plants, asserts that most nuclear plants around the world are not seismically qualified, i.e. they cannot withstand earthquakes. Although plants must be certified, Palast claims that most aren't because the costs are too high; so, the plant owners lie and convince the engineers building the plant to lie.

He doesn't stop here. Palast goes on about the Japanese plants:

Last night, I heard CNN reporters repeat the official line that the tsunami disabled the pumps needed to cool the reactors, implying that water unexpectedly got into the diesel generators that run the pumps.

These safety backup systems are the "EDGs" in nuke-speak: Emergency Diesel Generators. That they didn't work in an emergency is like a fire department telling us they couldn't save a building because "it was on fire."

Palast's concerns are increased because of the plans to build two nuclear plants in Texas. A major player in the building and operation of the plant will be Tokyo Electric Power, which is responsible for the plants in Japan that are currently at risk.

Will these Texas plants be in the news in the next decade or so?