Extensions of Remarks 6781 Extensions of Remarks
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March 26, 1980 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 6781 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS NUCLEAR POWER ing need to move ahead with our oniy logi serve" of equipment and personnel immedi cal energy strategy: conserving energy· and ately available in the event of a nuclear · developing .all existing U.S. resources. mean~ emergency. ing largely coal and nuclear power. Development of a · generic emergency HON. JOHN W. WYDLER 5. The national energy direction-whether public information. plan to help assure a OF NEW YORK by deliberate policy or drift:-has taken us flow of accurate, dependable information IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES farther away from domestic· energy adequa from any nuclear plant which might e~peri cy rather than closer to it. We mtlst remove ence an emergency. Wednesday, March 26, 1980 · the roadblocks to the development of do- Institution of a system' to analyze every mestic ·eriergy supply. non-normal occurrence at any nuclear plant, • Mr. WYDLER. Mr. Speaker, this 'rhe electric power industry believes that based on information from licensee event re week marks the passage of 1 year since its response to the Three Mile Island acci ports, in order to identify any needed ·. cor the accident at the Three ·Mne Island dent is particularly notable. It was unprec rective action and immediately distribute nuclear powerplant in Pennsylvania. edented both in scope and speed. such information to .puclear utilities to We have already seen a great deal of The electric ututty industry ·is composed assure the appropriate attention and actio!L media attention to this anniversary, of more than 2900 separate ·and independ Completion of several studies requested mostly speculating w~ether the nucle ent entittes which generate,. transmit and by the President's CoD)lnlssion on the Acci ar industry can survive the accident distribute electrical. energy to customers. dent at Three Mile Island. The "nuclear industry" includes.many hun ~tablishment of special studies which ln~ and its aftermath. dreds of additional organizations which dicated that the safety margins at TMI I think it is Important that. we have study, design, manufacture. construct. main during and following the accident were sub-· an understanding of the progress the tain and service· nuclear plants and Compo· stantfal. · industry has made iii understanding nents. many of them on · an international. Development of an industrywide commu what happened at Three Mile Island scale. nications systeni ·to provide substantially and implementing the Jessons learned. 'In ~he year since the March 28. 1979 acci immediate·distribution of information to all This industry is an .important part of dent at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant nuclear utilities. our total energy picture-furnishing <TMI> in PennSylvania. we have enlisted the · Establishment of an expanded public ,in support of and• .in the case of those wiih formation program to disseminate needed about 13 percent of our Nation's elec direct nuclear involvement, the participa information on energy matters in general, tricity. The completion of the 90 or so tion by the broadly diverse electric ututty and nuclear power in particular. · . nuclear · powerplants under· construc and nuclear ind"Q.Stries in the response to Completion· by INPO of the first two tion is vital to the lessening of our de TMI. Executives and technical nuclear per· audits and evaluations· of ·the management pendency on foreign oil. The following sonnel numbering in the hundreds have and operation of nuclear power plants. is a summary of the industry's report been directly involved in this coordinated Completion of a joint NSAC/iNPO inves to President Carter on the major, sub effort <not counting those activities carried tigation of the crystal River nuclear inci stantive steps it ha.S taken to make on by individual nuclear ututties> SJ)d the dent and publication of a report. sure that nuclear safety be enhanced man-hours expended run into many thou We are proud of the exceptional safety over and above the in4ustry's already sands. record of nuclear power. over its quarter Under the general supervision and coordi century of use, and of the tndustry's promp~ unsurpassed safety record. nation of an eight-man committee of top-ex and substantial response to the accident to SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ecutives representing investor-owned utlli assure that nuclear plants are even safer in The year since the Three Mile Island acci ties. ~ocal and state government-owned the future. The ~ompelllng evidence of the dent has been a watershed period not only power agencies and . rural electric coopera past twelve months demonstrates not only for nuclear power. but for all energy in the tives, some of the maJor accomplishments of that ·nuclear po:wer is adequately .safe, but United States. A series of dramatic events the pa.St twelev~ months have been: also that it is absolutely necessary. has demonstrated the fragutty ot cur Creation, with the assistance of the Elec . It-is of the utmost importance that the energy supply system-meaning the fragil tric Power Re8earch Institute. of the Nucle United States recogntu the ·urgent ·need to ity of our economy and basic way of life. ar Safety Analysis Center (NSAC> to study develop au U.S. energy sources, including The electric energy industry believes that in great depth what happened. at TMI, why nuclear power, to begin substituting for our there are five · over-riding lessons· to be it happened, what might have happened. dangerously high dependence on imported learned from the past 12 months: the best solutions to the safety· conceriut oil. Such a com_mitment wiU require· leader• 1. Three Mile Island was a serious-but ideAtified there and at other nuclear l>ower ship from the highest levels of government.· not highly dangerous-accident. Official re_. plants, and to provide ·a continuous source as well as cooperation from the public and ports since then have shOwn that many of of authentic informati9n. · the many special interest groups that are In the fears at the time were based largely on Organization, from a standing start at volved in energy policy decision. Beca.Use of misinformation. The .unmatched · public mid-year 1979. of a free-standing independ the long lead times. related to the develop safety record of nuclear power after more ent Instiiut~ of NuClear Power Operations ment ·of ~ny large-scale energy source; a fur than 25 years of commercial experience and <INPO> charged with establishing "bench ther delay in such a c~mmltment represents almost 450 cumulative years of power reac• marks of excellence" in . the operations of a highly dangerous gamble with the very tor operatiQn remains intact. nuclear power plants and implementing pro stabutty and security of the United States 2. The u.S. electric power ·.industry re~ cedures to assure that . all nuclear power in the years and decades ahead. As we have swnded quickly and forcefully to the acci plants measure up to such standards. seen demonstrated ~atically ·in the past dent. revising procedures and.training in nu Creation.of a new insurance company, Nu year. the greatest risk related to nuclear clear power plants, making indicated equip clear Electric Insurance Limited <NEIL>, to power is the risk. of facing the future with· ment chang_es and establishing major new provide partial protection from the great fi out it.e organizations to correct the inadequacies in nancial impact of an extended outage of .a dicated by the accident. As a result, nuclear nuclear power plant caused· by an accident, power plants today are even safer than they especially the cost o.t replacement power. GRAIN TO JAPAN? were a year ago. Development of the most authentic se 3. Other energy developments during· the quence of events of the TMI accident." · HON. LEE .H. HAMILTON past year-long gas lines. substantially - Analysis of all information coming out of OF INDIAl'fA higher prices for oil and gasoline and the TMI and distribution of the -analysis to the ominous turmoil in the Middle East-have staff of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES demonstrated the serious · dangers tied to · and other interested partie&.. · We4nesday~ March 26, i 980 our heavy dependence on imported oil and Coordination of industry comments on the risks of not developing nuclear power. NRC staff proposals for actions to be taken • Mr. HAMILTON. Mr.· Speaker, in 4. Several maJor new energy policy stud in response to TMI. January, President Carter expressed ies"7'by such ~xpert organizations as the Na Development of a model emergency re our national opposition to the Soviet tional Academy of Sciences a.nd Resources sponse plari for ~aptation by individual im invasion of A!ghanist~n by limiting for the Future-have emphasized the press- clear plants which provides a "ready re- exports of grain afld high technology e This "b\lllet'' symbol ideritifi.es statements or insertions which ~e not spoken by ·the Member on the floor. 6782 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS March 26, 1980 Items to· the Soviet Union. These sane· Malva Landa, "a 60-year-old woman. a self £From the WashJ.ng.ton Star, Mar. 20, 19801 tions have weighed heavily on the less administrator of the Russian Social CURING rJm ADDIC1'ION 1'0 FI:DEJtAL Am economic present and future·of the.do- Fund of many years, and member of the mestic farmer. Helsinki Watch.Group!' <By James J. KUpatrick> Mrs. Landa wa8 arrested on March '1 and In the current Issue of State Governmen.t For . the · agricult1.1ra.J saneti ons t o ..Is currently confined at V18dimir Prison. At News. the lead article begins with a cheerful· have the maximum effect we need the the time of her arrest she was living in:the announcement: "The good news for states in active support of our industrial allies amau city of Petushki, approximately '18 President Carter's fiscal 1981 budget is his as well as the major grain exporters.