“The Nuclear Power Plant Safety Act of 2011 will help ensure that the U.S. fleet of nuclear reactors is safe,” said Rep. Markey. “We should not wait for an American meltdown to beef up American nuclear safety measures. We must heed the lessons to be learned from the nuclear meltdown in Japan and ensure nuclear safety here in America.”
A copy of the legislation can be found HERE.
Specifically, the Nuclear Power Plant Safety Act of 2011 will:
Since the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, Rep. Markey has called for a series of immediate actions in response to the resulting nuclear meltdown.
Rep. Markey has asked the Obama administration to fully implement the 2002 law he authored that potassium iodide, the “emergency pills” taken after a nuclear disaster which can help prevent the cancer-causing effects of radiation poisoning, be distributed to those living within 20 miles of a U.S. nuclear facility. The Bush administration ignored the law and the Obama administration has not yet reversed the Bush policy despite a letter Rep. Markey sent in 2009 urging President Obama to implement it. Rep. Markey recently wrote ten state governors urging them to join 22 other states who have already taken advantage of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) policy of providing a free supply of potassium iodide to states that request it for residents that live within ten miles of an operating nuclear power plant. He also sent a letter to the National Governors Association requesting its assistance in urging the Obama Administration to implement the 2002 Markey law requiring the distribution of KI to a larger 20-mile radius around operating nuclear power plants.
Rep. Markey also called for a moratorium on all new reactors that could be placed in seismically active areas until a top-to-bottom review of design resiliency, emergency response, backup power to prevent a meltdown during long electricity outages, and evacuation plans has been conducted. Operating nuclear reactors should then also be retrofitted to incorporate the findings of the review. Rep. Markey has also demanded a safety review of the 31 reactors in the United States that are the same design as those currently experiencing major failure in Japan.
And three days before the Japanese earthquake, Rep. Markey asked the NRC to suspend a pending approval of the design for the AP1000 nuclear reactor. One of NRC's most senior staff warned that the containment structure for this reactor design would not be able to withstand a strong earthquake and it was so brittle it could “shatter like a glass cup” under sufficient stress.
Rep. Markey has served on the Committees that have oversight over the NRC and the nuclear utility industry since 1976. For more than three decades, Rep. Markey has worked to secure nuclear power plants and ensure the public safety in the event of a nuclear disaster. In 1979, before the Three Mile Island accident occurred, Rep. Markey introduced legislation providing for a three year moratorium on licensing of new nuclear power plants until a top to bottom safety analysis on nuclear reactors could be performed. In 1982, he chaired a hearing on the distribution of potassium iodide. In 1986, he chaired hearings on the causes and consequences of the disaster at Chernobyl. Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Rep. Markey passed a law to strengthen security for nuclear reactors and materials, and a law providing for distribution of potassium iodide to those living within 20 miles of a nuclear reactor. And before the catastrophe in Japan, Rep. Markey raised concerns of the seismic resiliency of our reactors.
