Given the record of the NRC toward disclosure, the idea that this is a major break with the past.

Steven Aftergood take on it is that Congress is breathing down their necks because, they were not notified of a major safety event:

According to David Lochbaum, a nuclear safety engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists, the triggering event in this case was congressional outrage at the NRC’s concealment of a major “nuclear safety event” in 2006 at the Nuclear Fuel Services plant in Erwin, Tennessee.

In that case, approximately 35 liters of highly enriched uranium solution leaked and spilled, creating the possibility of a criticality accident, i.e. an uncontrolled chain reaction. Yet “NRC failed to notify the public or Congress for 13 months regarding this serious incident,” complained Rep. John Dingell in a July 3, 2007 letter (pdf) to NRC Chairman Dale E. Klein.

If I were a member of Congress, that would piss me off.

If I lived near Erwin, Tennessee, I’d consider putting my house up for sale.