ACTION ITEM

The International Nuclear Safety Program (INSP), which provides funds for safety upgrades to Soviet-designed nuclear reactors throughout Central and Eastern Europe (see related story on page 3), is threatened. The subcommittees of the Senate Armed Services and House National Security committees will be considering the issue in the coming weeks. Constituents of subcommittee members are urged to write to their members of Congress in support of the program. The letters should urge that the subcommittee fully fund the $50 million request for the INSP.

Arguments that can be used in support of funding are:

• Nuclear safety is an international concern; these nations have instituted political and economic reform and are integrating with the West.
  
  
• The over-all program is a joint program with other G-7 states and the recipient countries.
  
  
• The countries affected lack the finances and technological capability to improve safety at their reactors without Western, including U.S., assistance.
  
  
• The effects of another "Chornobyl-style" accident would be devastating to the country in which it occurred, to the other countries in the region, and to the international environment.

The following senators and representatives should be contacted:

Senators - Idaho: Dirk Kempthorne; New Hampshire: Bob Smith; New Mexico: Jeff Bingaman; Ohio: John Glenn; Oklahoma: Jim Inhofe; Virginia: John Warner; West Virginia: Robert Byrd.

REPRESENTATIVES - Alabama: Terry Everett; Arizona: Robert Stump; Arkansas: Victor Snyder; California: Sonny Bono, Ronald Dellums, Howard McKeon, Duncan Hunter; Connecticut: James H. Maloney; Florida: Allen Boyd; Illinois: Rod R. Blagojevich, Lane Evans; Kansas: Jim Ryun; Kentucky: Ron Lewis; Maine: Tom Allen; Missouri: Ike Skelton, James Talent; New Jersey: James Saxton, Mike Pappas; North Carolina: Mike McIntyre; Oklahoma: J.C. Watts; South Carolina: Floyd Spence, John Spratt, Lindsey Graham; Texas: Jim Turner, Willaim M. (Mac) Thornberry; Utah: James Hansen; Washington: Adam Smith.

ADDRESSES: The Honorable..., United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510; The Honorable..., U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515.

- submitted by Eugene Iwanciw

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 13, 1997, No. 15, Vol. LXV

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