Editorial: Make nuke industry pay for its mistakes

Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 | 9:26 a.m.

There is no reason why federal taxpayers should continue to subsidize the nuclear power industry through the 44-year-old Price-Anderson Act, which expires in August and is under consideration by Congress for renewal.

Under the act, owners of the nation's 106 nuclear reactors are liable only for a limited amount of the cleanup costs in case of a catastrophe. The owner of the reactor that had the accident would be liable for a maximum $200 million, and the operators of the other 105 facilities would each contribute a maximum $88 million. The total industry liability would be about $9.4 billion.

For comparison, consider that the April 1986 Chernobyl accident in the former Soviet Union cost $200 billion to clean up. Had that mishap occurred in this country, taxpayers under Price-Anderson would have had to pay about $191 billion.

Nevada taxpayers should not be forced to pay for nuclear plant accidents in other states. That burden should rest squarely on the companies that own the reactors.

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