Bad design and construction of the tallest U.S. dam a half-century ago and inadequate state and federal oversight since then led to a disastrous spillway collapse in February, an independent national team of dam safety experts said Tuesday as they urged tougher safety reviews nationwide.

The experts investigating February's spillway failures at California's Oroville Dam say the state probably could have detected the problems that led to the collapse if dam managers had assessed the original construction flaws in the 1960s-era structure in light of modern engineering standards.

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