David Lochbaum has more than seventeen years of experience in commercial nuclear power plant start-up testing, operations, licensing, software development, training, and design engineering.
argue Lochbaum's failure to specify which "severe natural disasters" and "similarly serious conditions" might render U.S. reactors vulnerable make such statements little more than scaremongering.
"[4] In 2013, Lochbaum discovered a 2007 filing by NRC Risk Analyst Rick Sherry which warned a "station blackout", or loss of power to multiple units, could challenge "the ability of the plant operating staff to respond".
[5] Lochbaum told New York Times reporter Matthew Wald that U.S. nuclear plants were unprepared for such an event, failing to mention Sherry's estimate that one might occur at a given U.S. reactor once every 100,000 years.
[6] Lochbaum was also apparently unaware NRC, with its 1988 Station Blackout Rule, had had appropriate contingency plans in effect for 25 years.