WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Congress’s leading voice on nuclear safety, released the following statement in response to today’s House Oversight and Government Committee hearing, “The Leadership of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission”.
“The reality is that the issues before the NRC today are entirely about safety despite Chairman Issa’s warnings to his colleagues at the hearing not to ‘hijack’ the proceedings to discuss safety matters. These four NRC Commissioners attempted a coup to remove Chairman Jaczko in part because they said they were concerned that the Chairman’s actions ‘undermined the ability of the Commission to function as prescribed by law and decades of successful practice’. Today, they sang a different tune and testified that they have received all information necessary to do their jobs and that the agency is functioning as well as it ever has in protecting public health and safety.
“I urge the Commissioners to end the distraction of this sorry soap opera and get back to the business of adopting the regulatory lessons of the Japanese nuclear meltdowns.”
Last week, Congressman Markey released a report, “Regulatory Meltdown”, prepared after his office reviewed thousands of pages of documents, including emails, correspondence, meeting minutes and voting records. The report found a concerted effort by Commissioners William Magwood, Kristine Svinicki, William Ostendorff and George Apostolakis to undermine the efforts of the Fukushima Task Force with request for endless additional study in an effort to delay the release and implementation of the task force’s final recommendations. Documents also show open hostility on the part of the four Commissioners toward efforts of NRC Chairman Greg Jaczko to fully and quickly implement the recommendations of the Task Force, despite efforts on the part of the Chairman to keep the other four NRC Commissioners fully informed regarding the Japanese emergency.
A copy of the report “Regulatory Meltdown: How Four Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners Conspired to Delay and Weaken Nuclear Reactor Safety in the Wake of Fukushima” can be found below.
Major findings in the report include:
· Four NRC Commissioners attempted to delay and otherwise impede the creation of the NRC Near-Term Task Force on Fukushima;
· Four NRC Commissioners conspired, with each other and with senior NRC staff, to delay the release of and alter the NRC Near-Term Task Force report on Fukushima;
· The other NRC Commissioners attempted to slow down or otherwise impede the adoption of the safety recommendations made by the NRC Near-Term Task Force on Fukushima;
· NRC Chairman Greg Jaczko kept the other four NRC Commissioners fully informed regarding the Japanese emergency, despite claims to the contrary made by these Commissioners;
· The consideration of the Fukushima safety upgrades is not the only safety-related issue that the other NRC Commissioners have opposed.
After the Near Term Task Force released its report in July, Rep. Markey called for the rapid adoption of all recommendations, and sent letters criticizing the proposals to delay even their consideration that were put forward by Commissioners Svinicki, Magwood and Ostendorff.
Rep. Markey also introduced legislation to overhaul nuclear safety. The Nuclear Power Plant Safety Act of 2011 will impose a moratorium on all new nuclear reactor licenses or license extensions until new safety requirements are in place that reflect the lessons learned from the Fukushima disaster.
Rep. Markey’s office also released the report, “Fukushima Fallout: Regulator Loopholes at U.S. Nuclear Plants ”, detailing several concerns about NRC safety regulations following the Fukushima crisis.
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