News bites: Two years after Fukushima, regulators say U.S. nuke plants are safer

On the second anniversary of the worst meltdown since Chernobyl, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) says the United States’ fleet of reactors is safer than ever before, The Associated Press reports.

U.S. lawmakers have repeatedly questioned the NRC in recent weeks about progress toward enacting safety upgrades at the nation’s 104 reactors. Late last week, documents released by the NRC raised fresh questions about safety procedures at the long troubled San Onofre power plant in Southern California.

Also in recent days, Sen. Barbara Boxer requested a progress report from the NRC. Boxer, chairman of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public works, is planning her eighth hearing on the topic later this month.

Financial Times is reporting that the Securities and Exchange Commissions is delving into distribution payments from U.S. mutual funds.

In D.C., federal workers are set to rally on Capitol Hill this week against the federal sequester cuts threatening hundreds of thousands of employee furloughs, The Washington Post reports.

The meat industry – already imperiled by the sequester – is lashing back against the Obama administration following the release of new proposed labeling regulations.

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