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
Reactor protection system water plants would include: Each parameter is measured by independent channels such that actuation of any two channels would result in an automatic SCRAM or reactor shutdown. The system also allows manual actuation by the operator. Reactor protection system A reactor protection system (RPS) is a set of nuclear safety components in a nuclear power plant designed to safely shut down the reactor and prevent the release of radioactive materials. The system can "trip" automatically (initiating a scram), or it can be tripped by the operators. Trips occurs when the parameters meet or exceed the limit setpoint. A trip of