Chernobyl Nuclear Accident Congressional Hearings Transcript

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Citizen groups are going to intervene regardless of whether or not
there is WRC funding for them. But without adequate technical help to
direct criticisms toward the real weaknesses of license applications,
interveners are going to continue to object to everything that seems the
slightest bit suspicious, out of fear that someone is trying to pull the
wool over their eyes. It is this fear by interveners of being tricked,
in my opinion, that has slowed down the regulatory process unnecessarily
in the past.
Certainly, arming interveners with technical experts is going to
lead to discoveries that will halt license applications in some cases.
But that's as it should be. On average, I believe intervener funding
will speed up the licensing process.
Response # 4: Impose a 1-cent per kilowatt -hour tax en existing nuclear power
plants, one that will be dedicated to the development of solar electricity
(particularly pnotovoltaics) and development of a new generation of reactors
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that will be "meltdown free."
The billions of dollars per year generated by such a tax would
represent the most exciting commitment ever made by this country to a
rational energy future. It would salvage something positive out of the
Chernobyl disaster.
A joint program, aimed at developing both cost-effective solar electricity
axvd meltdown-free reactors, offers the best hope, in my view, for
both the solar and the nuclear industry.
Why should the nuclear industry favor such a tax? Because the
handwriting is on the wall. There are not going to be any new orders for