Chernobyl Nuclear Accident Congressional Hearings Transcript

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environmental qualification of electrical equipment which is
intended to ensure that necessary safety equipment will continue
to function under serious accident conditions such as heat,
moisture and radiation. All of these measures reflected a
recognition after the Three Mile Island accident that severe
reactor accidents involving the melting of the reactor core and
the potential release of substantial amounts of radioactivity can
in fact occur. Obviously, the Chernobyl accident reinforces the
validity of that judgment.
But perhaps the most important lesson of the Chernobyl accident
has to do with the acceptability of a severe accident in the
United States and the adequacy of the measures now being taken by
the industry and the NRC to prevent such an accident. For this
accident brings home the fact that severe reactor accidents which
involve melting of the reactor core, the potential for dangerous
exposures to radiation, the potential for extensive land
contamination, and public stress and trauma, can occur. The
fundamental lesson from Chernobyl must be that such an accident is
simply unacceptable, and we must make every effort to reduce or
eliminate the chance of such an accident in this country. The
central question is whether our present regulatory approach and
the level of performance of the U.S. plants are fully consistent
with this most fundamental lesson of Chernobyl. I must conclude,
based upon the experience of the past few years, that they are
not, and that we should be pursuing additional features both to
reduce the possibility of a core meltdown accident in this country