June 22, 2006 - MARKEY AND CLINTON PUSH FOR TIGHTER CONTROLS ON NUCLEAR MATERIALS THAT COULD BE USED TO MAKE A DIRTY BOMB
Washington, DC – Representative Edward Markey (MA) and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) today called on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to tighten controls on nuclear materials that could be used to create a dirty bomb. Markey and Clinton secured passage of an amendment to the Energy Bill that required a cradle to grave, national tracking system for materials that could be used to make a dirty bomb in order to reduce the risk that terrorists could obtain these materials. However, the NRC has made the short-sighted and ill-considered decision that controlling these materials is not a security issue and should not be a federal responsibility. Instead, they have deemed this a public health and safety issue and pushed responsibility for implementing the tracking system to the states, effectively eliminating the ability of the NRC to enforce compliance. In a letter to the Chairman of the NRC, Markey and Clinton called on the NRC to abide by the stricter standard set by the law and make controlling these nuclear materials the federal security priority this threat requires. Senator Clinton pressed NRC Chairman Nils Diaz and the commissioners of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to act today at a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
March 28, 2006- Calls for Answers in Nuke Smuggling Incident
WASHINGTON, DC – In response to reports that Government Accountability Office (GAO) researchers were able to smuggle radioactive materials suitable for use in a dirty bomb into the United States in a car trunk, Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the Energy and Commerce and Homeland Security Committees and author of the “Dirty Bomb Prevention Act,” sent a letter today to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) asking about the agency’s progress on issuing regulations on the importation of radiation sources. The required regulations, contained within the portions of the “Dirty Bomb Prevention Act” that were enacted as amendments to the Energy Bill last summer, should, when implemented, be capable of preventing unauthorized individuals from smuggling large quantities of radioactive materials into the country in the same manner used by GAO. The NRC has missed the statutorily mandated 180 day deadline for issuing the regulations.
November 18, 2005- Markey Outraged at Missing Radioactive Material
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA) emphasized his concern today over alarming news that a 20-gallon drum holding radioactive material was mistakenly transported to JFK Airport to a post office in New Jersey. According to news reports, “the package contained enough cesium 137 to contaminate several city blocks, potentially causing cancer and radiation sickness.”
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