LAS VEGAS - Some of the brightest minds at UNLV are weighing in on Japan's nuclear emergency and whether we should have serious concerns about nuclear power in the United States.
"I don't believe so," said David Stahl, Associate Executive Director of Nuclear Technology Programs. "We have designs that I think are superior in regard to pressure vessels and in regard to the backup power systems."
The public had a chance to learn about two nuclear plants in California: Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo and San Onofre between Los Angeles and San Diego.
UNLV Nuclear Engineering Research Professor Denis Beller said both could survive well in a disaster and are designed differently than the Japanese plants.
"I think they are a better design," he said. "They are a later design for one thing. They are newer reactors. They are a different kind of reactor."
Experts at UNLV have been collecting radiation readings in the aftermath of the Japanese disaster, which was caused by a devastating 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.
"It's going to come over," said health physicist Steve Curtis. "Some small pieces of it, and they've been detecting a little bit of it around here, but it's levels so low that it's not of any kind of health concern."
Regardless of the minimal health concern, Japan's nuclear crisis may have strong implications here.
"Big thing for the U.S. is we have been in the middle of what we call the nuclear renaissance, with a very strong focus on new nuclear plants in the country," said Paul Seidler, Executive Director of Nevada Alliance for Defense, Energy and Business and Manager of Accelerator and Transmutation Research Program at HRC. "That's been somewhat stymied just because of the economy, but still there's been quite a few plans to look at building new nuclear plants. So, you can see that this might have an adverse effect on that."
For those who have concerns, one professor said the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is the gold standard of the world when it comes to inspecting reactors. He says safety and security upgrades have taken place since Three Mile Island and that more measures are coming.
The U.S. gets 20% of its power from the nuclear industry.
