IV. NRC's new zeal, a face-lift, and increased regulation

If the TMI accident hit utility managers like ice water, it was no less shocking to the regulators in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Post-TMI study groups sharply criticized the agency's personnel, structure, and pre-TMI laxities. Critics asked: Why did the NRC not strictly enforce compliance with its safety regulations? Why was there no strong leadership directing the agency's priorities? Why did the agency fail to examine every abnormal operating event and disseminate the information throughout the nuclear industry? Some of the questions have been brought into the courtroom. General Public Utilities, the owner of the crippled TMI reactor, has filed suit against the NRC for $4 billion alleging inadequate oversight of safety. GPU charges that the TMI accident might not have happened if the NRC had told the utility about an incident at the Davis-Besse reactor in Ohio, during which a sequence of events almost identical to those that triggered TMI occurred. (The incident at the Davis-Besse reactor, owned jointly by the Toledo Edison Co. and the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co., occurred at low power and did not progress as far as the TMI accident.)