Nuclear safety in the United States inadvertently reversed pipe restraints at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant reactors, compromising seismic protection systems, which further undermined confidence in nuclear safety. All of these well-publicised events, undermined public support for the U.S. nuclear industry in the 1970s and the 1980s. In 2002, the USA had what former NRC Commissioner Victor Gilinsky termed "its closest brush with disaster" since Three Mile Island's 1979 meltdown; a workman at the Davis-Besse reactor found a large rust hole in the top of the reactor pressure vessel. Recent concerns have been expressed about safety issues affecting a large part of the nuclear fleet of
Zoé (reactor) 60 aluminum-cased vertical rods containing three tons of uranium oxide pellets, controlled by cadmium rods. The heavy water was purchased from Norsk Hydro. A cooling system was added after the reactor had operated for a time, allowing it to run at a heat release rate of 200 kilowatts. The name Zoé was an acronym, from Zéro de puissance" (zero power, that is, very little capacity to produce electricity, which made it easier and faster to build); Oxyde d'uranium" (uranium oxide), "Eau lourde" (heavy water). The Châtillon site was superseded for later nuclear research by a new site at Saclay. The