WASHINGTON -- The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved Wednesday a 15-year renewal of the government's insurance program for nuclear power plants.
Lawmakers chipped away at long-standing provisions that have granted Energy Department contractors protection from liability if they caused accidents while handling radioactive materials.
The bill, which renews the Price-Anderson Act, was approved by voice vote after weeks of negotiations.
Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., said he will try to bring the legislation to the full House next week. The Senate has not yet started work to renew the act, which expires in August.
The act requires nuclear plant owners to contribute to a liability insurance pool that would release up to $9.5 billion for accidents at commercial plants. Damage claims above that amount would come from the government after authorization by Congress.
Because the Price-Anderson Act is key to the growth of the nuclear industry, the reauthorization bill is opposed by Nevada lawmakers, who figure nuclear power expansion means more nuclear waste that could be shipped to the state for burial at the proposed Yucca Mountain repository.
The most controversial issue settled Wednesday reduces liability protections for companies that handle nuclear materials under Energy Department contract. The act was changed to allow the Justice Department to recover accident costs found to result from a contractor's "intentional misconduct." The recovery amount could not exceed the profit the offending company would have received under its government contract.
Tauzin said the provision was a compromise.
Democrats had been pushing to broaden the law to cover contractor "gross negligence," and some had proposed tripling damages the government could recover from DOE contractors involved in nuclear accidents.
Republicans and Energy Department officials said they feared the law would be made so tough that companies would not be willing to handle dangerous nuclear materials for the government.
Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., said increasing contractor liability would help the Energy Department build public confidence in its plans to hire companies to transport nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Also approved was an amendment directing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to set up a system ensuring federal background checks for crews transporting nuclear waste and nuclear materials.
Another amendment aims to give the director of homeland security a voice in licensing new nuclear reactors.
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