The first flex regional response center opened on May 22 in Phoenix, Ariz. The facility is the first of two regional response centers established by the nuclear power industry (under the aegis of the Nuclear Energy Institute) to keep equipment and materials in reserve in case of extreme emergencies at nuclear power plants that disable both the plant's own equipment and emergency services in the vicinity of the plant. The other FLEX center, located in Memphis, Tenn., was scheduled to open in June. NEI developed the FLEX system in response to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi accident, which called for a higher level of emergency response than power reactor licensees had maintained previously. Each FLEX center is designed to deliver emergency backup equipment anywhere in the United States within 24 hours of a request.
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