[Imc-newsroom] headline for news hour

[Molly Stentz]

U.S. Senate Renews Price-Anderson Act
--Taxpayers to pay for liabilities in event of nuclear accident

Last week the U.S. voted to renew the Price Anderson act, legislation
which limits the liability of the nuclear industry and its insurance firms
in the event of a major radioactive disaster.

The Act, originally passed in 1957, specifies the maximum damages faced by
the nuclear industry would be $9.3 billion per accident, with taxpayers
bearing the rest of the costs. Nuclear accidents can cost as much as $500
billion according to government estimates.

According to Majority Whip Harry Reid (D-Nevada), "The Price-Anderson Act
was created nearly 50 years ago to stimulate the fledgling nuclear power
industry by shielding owners from the full cost of an accident. The
nuclear industry is now a mature electric industry and is no longer in
need of liability protection."

Among the 78 Senators voting to renew the act were both Illinois
senators Dick Durbin and Peter Fitzgerald.

(So much for free market energy policy!)

-Submitted by Molly Stentz

(Sources: March 10 News-Gazette, Public Citizen)