In the event of a major nuclear accident at a nuclear power plant in the United States, the 1957 Price-Anderson Act limits the liability of the owners of the power plant where the accident occurred. Owners of nuclear power plants pay in to a Federal fund that is currently around twelve billion dollars. After an accident, damages will be paid to the public out of the fund for such things as injury, lost wages, hotel rooms required by evacuation, property replacement, etc.
The question of what Federal agencies would respond and who would pay for cleaning up the environmental damage left by a major nuclear accident is not clear. In 2009, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told the Homeland Security Department and the Environmental Protection Agency that money collected under the Price-Anderson Act would probably not be available for environmental remediation in the area around a nuclear power plant where an accident happened. A year later, a Freedom of Information act was filed with the EPA and the NRC statement became public knowledge.
Last year, a NRC commissioner said that “[t]here is no regulatory framework for environmental restoration following a major radiological release.” in a presentation to the Health Physics Society. She also raised the question of what should be considered as "clean." Some have called for the use of the Superfund standard for cleaning up radioactive contamination. That standard says that radiation must be reduced to the point where there will be less than one new case of cancer per ten thousand people using the area. She said that the NRC did not support the Superfund standard. Recent statements by the EPA suggest that they think that the Superfund standard may be too strict and not practical in the case of a major nuclear incident. If only radioactive materials were released into the environment, then the EPA Superfund law which enables the EPA to sue polluting companies would not apply.
On September 13, 2013, the New York Attorney General sent a letter to the NRC requesting more information on who would be responsible for cleaning up the environmental destruction caused by a nuclear accident at one of the three Indian Point Energy Center reactors. The AC requested that the question be resolved definitively before the Indian Point nuclear power plant was relicensed. The AG said that it is “not clear that NRC has the desire, capability, or financial resources to respond to a severe accident at Indian Point and ensure the thorough decontamination of the New York metropolitan area including, but not limited to, its water sources -- and drinking water sources -- in the wake of such an accident." The AG demanded that the NRC identify exactly which Federal agencies would respond to clean up an accident at the Indian Point plant and also make an explicit statement about whether or not the Price-Anderson funds could be tapped for environmental in the event of a nuclear accident. In the letter, it was pointed out that the area around the Indian Point plant is heavily populated, contains critical infrastructure and resources, and contains some of the most expensive real estate in the country. Based on these facts, it was predicted that the cost of clean up around the Indian Point Energy Center might be more expensive that a clean up around any other nuclear reactor in the country. In any case, we do need a straight answer about who cleans up and who pays for an environmental disaster caused by a nuclear accident.
Indian Point Energy Center:
