News, June 2010

US Congress Poised to Repeat Deregulatory Debacle With New Nuclear Reactors, Warn Experts

Is BP-Style Deregulation of Nuclear Power Imminent? -

Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, June 28, 2010

WILL CONGRESS REPEAT THE MISTAKES THAT LED TO THE BP OIL SPILL?:
 
EXPERTS TO WARN THAT CLIMATE/ENERGY LEGISLATION PROPOSALS TO DEREGULATE NUCLEAR REACTOR SAFETY POSE A REAL DANGER
 
Nuclear Industry’s Proponents Talking Up the Same Regulations They Are Trying to Tear Down; Congress Ignoring Major Lesson of BP Spill: 

Lax Regulation in Licensing and Oversight Can Lead to Major Accidents. 
 
WASHINGTON, D.C.

There is now widespread agreement about the role played in the BP oil spill by safety deregulation and the uncritical adoption of industry-supported “streamlining” of federal oversight.   Experts warned at 11 a.m. EDT Wednesday (June 23, 2010) that proposed climate/energy legislation would put the United States on the same dangerous path in the nuclear sector by undermining safety reviews for new reactors,  truncating the licensing process for new reactors, and further reducing transparency and public participation in the federal government’s regulatory processes.
 
The proposed nuclear safety and other deregulatory measures are all the more alarming because they would scale back a nuclear regulatory system that already has been severely weakened over the past several decades in response to industry demands.   Even more startling than the prospect that safety laws for licensing of nuclear reactors could be further weakened is the fact   that current system for federal oversight of the nuclear industry is being touted as a model for the oil industry – even as the nuclear industry and its Capitol Hill advocates quietly work to put in place the same kind of slashes to regulation that are widely regarded as contributing directly to the BP oil spill.
 
The experts also will debunk the notion that the BP oil spill somehow makes a case for more nuclear reactors in the U.S.   In fact, the oil spill shows there is a need for clean, renewable power sources that do not have the considerable safety problems associated with oil, coal and nuclear power.
 
Speakers on the live, two-way phone-based news event (with full Q&A) at 11 a.m. EDT Wednesday included:
 
* Dr. Jeff Patterson, president, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and professor, Department of Family Medicine , University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI.
 
* Peter Bradford, former commissioner, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and former chair of both the New York and Maine state utility regulatory commissions.
 
* Dr. Edwin Lyman, senior scientist, Global Security Program, Union of Concerned Scientists.
 
* Diane Curran, Esq., partner, Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg, LLP.
 
A streaming audio recording of the news event is available on the Web as of 3 p.m. EDT on June 23, 2010 at http://www.nuclearbailout.org
 
CONTACT: 

Leslie Anderson, (703) 276-3256 or landerson@hastingsgroup.com.
 

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