UPDATE - House panel debates US nuclear plant liability law
Date: 28-Jun-01
Country: USA
Author: Chris Baltimore
The Bush administration's national energy plan emphasizes nuclear power as a key energy source for the future, which has been criticized by environmental groups and some Democrats.
A House of Representatives Energy subcommittee hearing on nuclear power plants and hydroelectric dams was dominated by discussion of the Price-Anderson Act, to expire August 2002.
The law obligates the federal government to accept insurance liability to shield U.S. nuclear power plant owners from up to $9.4 billion in liability in the event of an accident.
Rep. Joe Barton, the Texas Republican who heads the subcommittee, pledged to reauthorize the law "well in advance of its expiration." That action would be "one of the most important signals Congress can send to people thinking about increasing nuclear capacity," Barton said.
The reauthorization is a pressing matter because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to receive more applications from utilities to renew existing licenses for nuclear plants. A fast-track approach to the law might be needed, Barton said.
But Michigan Rep. John Dingell, the ranking Democrat on the full House Energy and Commerce Committee, said lawmakers must take their time and analyze the impact of reauthorizing the Price-Anderson Act.
"To move fast may be to move poorly," Dingell said, calling for further study of the issue before the committee signs off on the bill. "I don't think Congress should act on Price Anderson...without thoughtful consideration," he said.
REGULATORS BACK PRICE-ANDERSON
Key regulatory agencies have already backed a renewal of the insurance liability law.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission "strongly and unanimously recommends the act's reauthorization," Richard Meserve, chairman of the agency, told the panel.
William Magwood, director of the Energy Department's office of nuclear energy, said the department supported reauthorizing the act "without any substantial changes." The department also recommended holding liability limits at the present $9.4 billion level, he said.
Congress passed the Price-Anderson Act in 1957 as an amendment to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, which opened the door for U.S. nuclear plant construction.
No nuclear plants have been built in the United States since the 1979 accident at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island plant, where the failure of the plant's water cooling system led to the partial melting of a reactor's uranium core.
Nuclear power currently produces about 20 percent of all U.S. electricity.
The Bush administration has touted nuclear power as a clean form of energy that is not dependent on foreign oil. Environmental groups complain the government has yet to figure out a safe way to store nuclear waste for thousands of years.
According to NRC's Meserve, the country has turned a corner in its perception of nuclear energy, which enjoys more public support. "A lot of people have gotten past some of the issues. I think Wall Street has gotten past those issues," he said.
Exelon Nuclear's chief operating officer Jack Skolds, whose company operates nuclear power plants, told the panel the current nuclear regulatory environment is "obsolete." He said the Price-Anderson Act should allow smaller, "merchant-size" nuclear plants to shoulder less insurance liability than larger plant operators.
DEMOCRATS VOICE ENVIRO CONCERNS
Separately, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chairman Curtis Hebert appeared before the subcommittee to discuss ways to streamline the process for relicensing hydroelectric dams.
Hebert acknowledged that its process for hydropower licensing is "often long and too costly," and agreed to cooperate with Congress to improve procedures.
Democratic lawmakers Dingell and Virginia's Rick Boucher accused FERC of giving short shrift to laws like the Clean Water Act in permitting hydroelectric dams.
The nation's rivers are "the property of all," not "luxury swimclubs to be run by FERC for the b