The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced yesterday that it will no longer publicly reveal safety lapses at nuclear power plants. The announcement came during the Commission’s first public meeting on power plant safety since the Sept. 11 attacks. The move rolls back procedures that were put in place after the Three Mile Island accident 25 years ago.

Democratic Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts warned that the move will “further deepen public skepticism of the commission’s performance and calls into question whether the commission is doing what it must do to keep nuclear reactors safe from terrorist attacks.”

Meanwhile the Progressive Magazine reveals in its August issue that the Bush administration has decided to ease fire safeguards at nuclear power plants. One former nuclear industry consultant told the magazine, “A nuclear power plant can kill a million people. There are more fire barriers in a nursing home than in a nuclear power plant.”