Senate Extends Nuclear Liability Law

["Fill, John (DHS-DDWEM)" <JFill@DHS.CA.GOV>]

> Senate Extends Nuclear Liability Law

> 

> Senate Votes to Extend Protection of Nuclear Industry From Major Accident

> Claims

> 

> The Associated Press

> 

> http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20020307_1384.html

> 

> W A S H I N G T O N, March 7 - 

> 

> Amid warnings that the future of the nuclear industry was at stake, the

> Senate agreed Thursday to continue requiring the government to assume

> liability for any major nuclear accident.

> 

> By a 78-21 vote, the Senate inserted into a sweeping energy bill an

> amendment extending a 1957 law that caps accident liability for the

> industry and private insurers at $9.3 billion. The provision also extended

> protection to the next generation of modular reactors that might be built.

> 

> A similar extension of the law already has been approved by the House. The

> current law expires this August.

> 

> Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, meanwhile, bemoaned the slow progress

> being made on the 553-page energy bill. "We've got to do better than an

> amendment a day," said Daschle, D-S.D. He said he still hopes the bill

> will be completed next week.

> 

> The sponsor of the nuclear liability amendment, Sen. George Voinovich,

> R-Ohio, said the Price-Anderson Act, which requires the government to

> assume liabilities over $9.3 billion, has worked well for decades and must

> continued if the nuclear industry is to survive.

> 

> Critics argued the government should not have to bail out a mature

> industry.

> 

> Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., urged fellow senators "to take away the training

> wheels" and at least as far as the next generation of reactors is

> concerned "require the industry to stand on its own two feet."

> 

> Reid offered a proposal to limit liability protection to current reactors,

> then withdrew the amendment

> 

> Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H., said that if the liability protection did not

> cover future reactors, the industry would abandon such projects as its

> so-called "pebble bed" design reactor. At least one utility has indicated

> it may seek a federal license for such a reactor within the next year or

> two.

> 

> "These modular (reactor) units are the future of nuclear power," said

> Smith.

> 

> The current law, already extended several times, requires individual

> nuclear power plants to have private insurance covering at least $200

> million. In addition, the industry as a whole must make available $9.3

> billion for an accident at any plant.

> 

> Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material

> may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 

> 

************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.

You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/