Future of U.S. nuclear plans uncertain after Japanese nuclear crisis
is little possibility that radioactive materials are being released in large amounts.”
As a precaution residents within a twelve mile radius of the Fukushima-Daiichi plant were evacuated. Radiation levels outside the plants are currently at twice the level Japan deems safe.
By flooding the reactors with salt water, plant operators have been forced to release radioactive steam periodically as part of an emergency cooling process that could continue for a year or more, said experts familiar with the design of the Daiichi nuclear plant.
This could mean that more than 180,000 residents in the affected areas may not be able to return home due to fears of radiation poisoning. Shifting winds could also send the clouds of radioactive steam to Japanese cities rather than the sea.
On Sunday, the U.S. military reported that helicopters sixty miles from the plant detected trace amounts of radioactive particles and the aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, stationed 100 miles off the east coast of Japan repositioned itself further away.
As officials in the United States watch the nuclear crisis in Japan unfold, opinions are divided over the fate of U.S. nuclear plans.
Clark Stevens, a spokesman for the White House, urged a tempered response to current events stating, “Information is still coming in about the events unfolding in Japan, but the administration is committed to learning from them and ensuring that nuclear energy is produced safely and responsibly here in the U.S.”
Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, echoed these statements and argued that the United States should not overreact and pass harsh legislation to clamp down on the nuclear industry.
“My thought about it is, we ought not to make American and domestic policy based upon an event that happened in Japan,” McConnell said.
In contrast, Representative Edward J. Markey (D – Massachusetts), who does not fully embrace nuclear power, but supported it as part of the House’s broader energy plan, pushed for tougher regulations on nuclear plants.
“The unfolding disaster in Japan must produce a seismic shift in how we address nuclear safety here in America,” he said.
Representative Markey is advocating for the consideration of a freeze on building nuclear plants in earthquake prone areas, requiring stronger containment vessels, and a thorough review of the thirty-one plants in the United States that operate similar technology to the failing Japanese reactors.
Nuclear power has featured prominently in the Obama administration’s energy policy, with the president proposing $36 billion in loan guarantees for the construction of new nuclear power plants in his State of the Union address.
The fate of the president’s nuclear plan may become clearer after Energy Secretary Stephen Chu and Gregory B. Jaczko, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will testify before members of the House Energy and Commerce committee on Wednesday.
