Chernobyl Nuclear Accident Congressional Hearings Transcript

STATEMENT OF HON. HOWARD M. METZENBAUM, A U.S. SENATOR
FROM THE STATE OF OHIO
Senator Metzenbaum. Mr. Chairman, I want to commend you
for holding these hearings. I wrote to you urging that you do so,
and I think a number of other Senators did, as well.
I must make a prefatory statement, however, in connection with
your own statement, and that is, Mr. Chairman, I do not think we
can be sanguine. I do not think we can be so confident that our
own agencies are doing the job that they should be doing, or that
the international agencies are doing the job that they should be
doing.
It is comforting to recite the words, and we look back at Three
Mile Island and feel a great sense of gratification that nothing
worse happened. But, the fact is that it was so close to being something
worse, maybe we just skidded by or got by.
There is a lot to be learned from the Chernobyl accident, and a
lot to be learned about that accident. One immediate lesson is quite
clear: a severe accident resulting in massive releases of radiation,
widespread evacuations, and numerous civilian deaths can indeed
occur.
I will be interested in hearing today what our agencies did in
connection with this, how promptly they moved and whether or not
they were able to find out how much radiation had reached some of
the other nations of the European sector, or whether or not they
just sat back and waited for others to supply the information.
I cannot overlook the fact that there are well over 300,000 American
servicemen, plus their families, living in the European theater,
and there was a certain amount of exposure. Should some of
those wives have come home, particularly the pregnant ones;
should some of the children have come home? I don't know.
Americans living near nuclear facilities, however, are rightfully
concerned that a tragedy like Chernobyl could happen to them.
They expect that everything possible will be done to prevent a
severe nuclear accident and that effective emergency plans are in
place in case one does occur.
My research in the history of the nuclear industry is not reassuring.
Because in the first instance we started off with the Atomic
Energy Commission, which had a twofold responsibility. One part
of that responsibility was to sell and encourage the use of atomic
energy, and the second part of the responsibility was to concern
itself with the safety cf Americans.
But the fact is, very little was done with respect to the second
part, and much more was done with promoting the use of nuclear
energy. And then as time went on, it caught up with us and some
of the plants in this country have had to be closed down because
they were not safe enough.
I remember so vividly a headline across the top of the Plain
Dealer in Cleveland, some years ago, which recited the fact, "Davis-
Besse Nuclear Facility has 1,400 Defects."
I remember just recently, I went down to one of the plants down
near Cincinnati, and found that there had been a leakage there.
Fortunately, they were able to catch it.