WHITE PLAINS, NY – Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-Westchester/Rockland) today unveiled legislation that would require the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to make sure nuclear power plant re-licensing takes into account the current environment in which the plant operates. The Nuclear Power Licensing Reform Act of 2005 would ensure that older power plants applying for license renewals, such as Indian Point, must meet the same stringent standards as new plants applying for the first time.
“If Indian Point was proposed today, the community would be up in arms that a nuclear plant would be built in such a heavily populated area. Yet these plants are allowed to continue to operate without any consideration of how this area has changed over the past several decades,” said Lowey, at a White Plains press conference. “We need to reform the re-licensing process to take these changes into account.”
The Nuclear Power Licensing Reform Act would:
- Make clear that any licensing, including initial licensing, must include a determination that the facility does not pose an unreasonable threat to persons or the environment because of safety or security vulnerabilities, including vulnerability to terrorist attacks;
- Require that there exist adequate evacuation plans for emergency events and that those plans have been approved by the relevant Federal agencies and States within 50 miles of the facility;
- Require that any renewed license must meet the same criteria and requirements that would be applicable for an original application for initial construction; and
- Require the NRC to determine that any changes in the size or distribution of the surrounding population have not resulted in the facility being located at a site at which a new facility would not be allowed to be built.
"I don't want Indian Point relicensed,” said Westchester County Executive Andy Spano. “In the aftermath of 9/11, we have formally petitioned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to broaden the criteria it uses to relicense nuclear power plants, knowing that if it does this it is less likely Indian Point would be relicensed. These two plants never should have been built here in the first place. Rep. Lowey's bill is important. It would take this out of the hands of the NRC and put into law that power plants may not be licensed -- or relicensed -- if they are located in places that make them vulnerable to terrorist attacks."
“Since September 11th, we’ve all become more aware of the threats we face from terrorist attack and we know that terrorists have sought to target nuclear plants,” said Lowey. “This information must be part of the criteria the NRC uses to re-license plants, for the sake of our families and our communities.”
