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
Cooling pond of up to 50 years in the area. The Columbia station in Pardeeville, Wisconsin is a coal fired power plant with a capacity of 1000 MW. A duel cooling system is used for heat rejection that consists of a cooling pond and two cooling towers. The pond and towers are connected in a parallel arrangement to help dissipate thermal energy at expedited rates. In 1994 North Korea's Yongbyon reactor was under U.S scrutiny and thus its nuclear fuel rods were taken out of the reactor and placed in the Yongbyon's cooling pond. They have since been removed. Cooling pond A