APNewsbreak: NRC proposes fewer inspections at US nuclear plants

By Ellen Knickmeyer

Washington reporter Ellen Knickmeyer, for using a tip from a nuclear regulator – whom she had worked long and hard to develop as a source – to break the news that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is recommending that the agency cut back on inspections at the country’s nuclear reactors, a cost-cutting move promoted by the nuclear power industry but denounced by opponents as a threat to public safety. The agency quietly slipped the recommendation onto its website without any public notice. Politico Playbook credited Knickmeyer under the headline, ”What could go wrong?”