Nuclear safety program is threatened (08/11/96)

Nuclear safety program is threatened

by Eugene Iwanciw

WASHINGTON - "Are we risking another Chornobyl-type incident in Eastern Europe?" is the question being asked in Washington these days. The possible closing of the Department of Energy's International Nuclear Safety Program by Congress is causing this alarm among nuclear experts. The program, initiated in 1992, received zero funding for fiscal year 1997 by the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.

The International Nuclear Safety Program originated from U.S. commitments made at the 1992 G-7 conference to provide assistance to Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia in reducing risks associated with the older Soviet-designed (RBMKs and VVER 440/230s) nuclear reactors. (It was an RBMK reactor that exploded at Chornobyl in 1986.) Since international borders do not deter the effects of a nuclear accident, other countries in the region, such as Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Romania and Belarus, which do not have nuclear reactors, have maintained an interest in the program.

In 1992, the U.S. Agency for International Development authorized $25 million to fund the commitments made at the G-7 conference. The Department of Energy was assigned responsibility to support the eight host countries in bringing the operation of nuclear power plants up to international safety standards as quickly as possible.

Since its inception, the program has been expanded to include a broader range of safety-related activities and to all four Soviet-era reactor designs. The United States has already allocated $180 million to the program and 18 nuclear power plants with 60 operating reactor units in eight countries participate in the program. (Ukraine has five plants with 16 operating reactors.) The program is designed to support efforts to reduce risks associated with reactor operations and to transfer technologies to the countries enabling them to develop and sustain a safety infrastructure.

For fiscal year 1997, the Clinton administration requested $66.2 million for this program. (Of the $66.2 million, about $35 million is planned for programs in Ukraine.) On July 16, the Senate Appropri-ations Committee approved the full request for funding. That same day, the House Ap-propriations Committee provided no funding for the program. It is anticipated that neither the Senate nor the House will change the actions of its respective Appro-priations Committees so the issue will be resolved by the House-Senate Conference Committee after both Houses of Congress have acted on the legislation.

The anticipated House Conferees are: John Myers (R-Ind.), Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), Joe Knollenberg (R-Mich.), Frank Riggs (R-Calif.), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), Jim Bunn (R-Oregon), Mike Parker (R-Miss.), Tom Bevill (D-Ala.), Vic Fazio (D-Calif.), Jim Chapman (D-Texas), and Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.).

The anticipated Senate Conferees are Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), Mark Hatfield (R-Ore.), Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Slade Gorton (R-Wash.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Robert Bennett (R-Utah), Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), Bennett Johnston (D-La.), Robert Byrd (D-W.V.), Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.), Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Robert Kerrey (D-Neb.), and Patty Murray (D-Wash.).

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