Clinton Orders Review Of U.S. Nuclear Facilities

[John_M._Priest@FirstEnergyCorp.com]

Clinton Orders Review Of U.S. Nuclear Facilities
By Randall Mikkelsen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton Friday said he had ordered a safety
review of U.S. nuclear
 installations following an accident at a Japanese nuclear fuel plant in which
at least 55 people were
exposed to radiation, some at potentially lethal levels.

``I thought that we ought to have all of our people learn everything we could
about what happened
 there, analyze our systems here and make sure we've done everything we can to
protect ourselves,
'' Clinton told reporters at the White House.

``There was a pretty good level of confidence that we had done that ... but I
think that when something
 like this happens, we realize we live in a world where perfection eludes us and
 we've got to keep
working on this,'' Clinton said.

White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, the
National Security
 Council and the Pentagon were asked to take part in the review.

Clinton met reporters after a telephone conversation with Japanese Prime
Minister Keizo Obuchi
 about the accident at a Sumitomo Metals uranium processing plant in Tokaimura,
in which at least
 55 people were exposed to radiation.

``He told me Japanese authorities have been able to bring the situation under
control, and he
 thanked me for the outpouring of support from the United States,'' Clinton
said.

``Over the last day, we've been providing information to Japan on our
experiences in dealing with
similar incidences in the United States and making available our experts in
atmospheric monitoring
 and any other areas that might be useful,'' Clinton said.

The president told reporters he had been informed of a similar incident that
occurred in the United
 States about 30 years ago, apparently referring to fatal accident at a Rhode
Island commercial
nuclear reactor processing facility in 1964. The death of nuclear worker Robert
Peabody in that
accident remains the only fatality in U.S. history resulting from an accident at
 a commercial nuclear
reactor.

Richardson had been meeting with his counterparts in Russia and discussing ways
to coordinate
assistance to Japan, Clinton said.

Washington has offered to send medical and scientific experts, but Japan has not
 yet said whether
it needs the help.

The president also urged Congress to resolve a stalemate over safety issues
surrounding plans
 to construct a permanent nuclear waste facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

``I have wanted not to see this issue politicized but to bend over backwards to
make
sure we do everything we can to deal with the nuclear safety issue before we
adopt
this course,'' he said.

Clinton opposes a plan backed by congressional Republicans to have the Nuclear
Regulatory
Commission set radiation exposure standards at the facility and instead is
seeking to give the task
 to the Environmental Protection Agency, whose standards are considered more
rigorous by the
White House.

Jack Priest
Davis Besse Nuclear Power Station
5501 N. State Rt. 2
Oak Harbor, OH 43449
MS.1029

419-321-7809
jmpriest@firstenergycorp.com


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