Chernobyl Nuclear Accident Congressional Hearings Transcript

BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT
THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 1986
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m., in room SD-
366, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. James A. McClure
(chairman) presiding.
Present: Senators McClure, Domenici, Wallop, Warner, Murkowski,
Nickles, Hecht, Bumpers, Metzenbaum, and Melcher.
Also present: K.P. Lau and Marilyn Meigs, professional staff
members; and Benjamin S. Cooper, professional staff member for
the minority.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES A. McCLURE, A U.S.
SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF IDAHO
The Chairman. The committee will come to order.
The April 26 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in the
Soviet Union has stimulated a lot of interest in a myriad of issues
related to the continued use of nuclear powerplants in this country
and abroad.
From members of this committee, we have had expressions of
concern about the immediate and long-term health effects of the
Chernobyl accident, the safety of our U.S. commercial and defense
reactors, the need for licensing reform, and the accident's overall
impact on the world energy supplies.
From an international perspective, we have already seen an increased
interest in expanding the role of the International Atomic
Energy Agency with respect to nuclear safety issues, including the
negotiation of international agreements for early notification about
nuclear incidents, and coordinating emergency response and assistance
in the event of a nuclear accident that releases radioactivity
into neighboring countries.
I wish to commend the IAEA for the responsiveness it has already
shown in the wake of the Chernobyl accident, and its actions
have reinforced my conviction that the IAEA is an invaluable body
for the promotion of responsible use of nuclear power throughout
the world.
From the perspective of our domestic use of nuclear power, I am
not surprised that the accident at Chernobyl has caused us to once
again assess the adequacy of the designs, safety features, and regulations
of all our operating nuclear reactors. The Department of
Energy has already responded by summoning numerous in-house
and independent reviews of the safety of its operating production
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