PRODUCT LIABILITY FOR NUCLEAR REACTORS

[Matt Freedman <freedman@Citizen.ORG>]

  PRODUCT LIABILITY BILL WOULD CREATE HUGE LOOPHOLE FOR NUCLEAR REACTORS
  
  On Thursday, March 14, a House-Senate conference committee
  reached agreement on legislation to limit the rights of those
  injured by unsafe products. Nuclear reactors and their components
  are among the dangerous products covered by the bill, which is
  part of the Republican "Contract on America." 
  
  The product liability bill is opposed by a broad coalition of
  citizens groups, including Public Citizen, Consumers Union, AFL-
  CIO, Sierra Club, National Organization for Women, Gray Panthers,
  Citizen Action, National Farmers Union, Consumer Federation of
  America, and National Hispanic Council on Aging.
  
  President Clinton also opposes the bill, and announced on
  Saturday that he will veto it if Congress passes it.
  
  Congressional passage is still in doubt, though, as Sen. Hollings
  (D-SC) is leading a filibuster against the conference report. The
  vote on cloture to end debate could come as early as tomorrow
  (Tuesday). The bill's supporters, including Sens. Bob Dole (R-
  KS),  Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), and Slade Gorton (R-WA), will try
  repeatedly, if necessary, to get the 60 votes they need to stop
  the filibuster and approve the bill.
  
  WHAT YOU CAN DO
  Call or email both your senators and urge opposition to the
  conference report on product liability. Also, write or email
  thanks to President Clinton for opposing the bill.
  
  The Capitol Switchboard number is (202) 224-3121. Direct line
  numbers and email addresses for senators can be found on Critical
  Mass' voting index (http://www.essential.org/CMEP).
  
  For more information, contact Bill Magavern at (202) 546-4996;
  magavern@citizen.org.
  
  The following is a letter sent to the Senate today.
  ----------------------------------------------------------------
                    NUCLEAR INFORMATION & RESOURCE SERVICE
                                PUBLIC CITIZEN
                  SAFE ENERGY COMMUNICATION COUNCIL
                      U.S. PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP
  
            PRODUCT LIABILITY BILL COULD JEOPARDIZE NUCLEAR SAFETY
  
  
  March 18, 1996
  
  
  Dear Senator: 
  
       As organizations concerned with nuclear safety, we oppose
  passage of the conference report on the Product Liability
  Fairness Act. Among its other provisions, the bill would let off
  the hook the manufacturers of dangerous nuclear reactors and
  their components.
  
       The conference report's statute of repose would bar product
  liability actions concerning durable goods alleged to have caused
  harm more than 15 years after the time of delivery of the
  product. Nuclear reactors and their components fit within the
  definition of a durable good: any product, or any component of
  any such product, which has a normal life expectancy of 3 or more
  years or is of a character subject to allowance for depreciation
  under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or which is used in a
  trade or business. The Senate bill had set the statute of repose
  at 20 years, but the conference report shortens it to 15 years.
  
       By a straightforward  reading of this provision, victims of
  nuclear accidents caused by defective nuclear reactors or
  components delivered more than 20 years before the accident would
  be barred from using product liability claims to seek
  compensation for their injuries. As the Chernobyl catastrophe
  demonstrates, a nuclear accident can injure hundreds of thousands
  of people and cause billions of dollars worth of damage. The
  Ukrainian government now estimates that Chernobyl has caused
  125,000 deaths. While the U.S. nuclear industry claims that "it
  can't happen here," that is no reason to relieve manufacturers of
  responsibility for their products. 
  
       Defective nuclear reactors are far from an abstract problem.
  To date, at least 14 electric utilities have sued Westinghouse
  over serious problems with steam generators in its pressurized
  water reactors.  Ruptured steam generator tubes could cause a
  loss of coolant accident resulting in a meltdown of the
  radioactive fuel.
  
       As nuclear reactors age, their safety problems increase. Yet
  the Nuclear Regulatory Commission now allows extension of
  operating licenses for 20 years beyond the current 40-year terms.
  Manufacturers' liability for the reactors and their components
  should continue until the reactors are shut down and dismantled.
  A statute of repose would rob both electric utilities that
  purchase reactors and workers and residents harmed by them of the
  
  opportunity to exercise their legal rights to fair compensation.
  Furthermore, imposition of a federal time limit on product
  liability actions would remove an important deterrent to the
  manufacture of unsafe reactors and components. Finally, if  tort
  law is not allowed to hold manufacturers of defective nuclear
  products accountable for a major nuclear accident, the victims'
  costs may well be shifted to the taxpayers. 
  
                      Sincerely,
  
  Michael Mariotte
  Executive Director
  Nuclear Information & Resource Service
  
  Bill Magavern            
  Director                 
  Public Citizen's Critical Mass     
  
  Scott Denman
  Director
  Safe Energy Communication Council
  
  Anna Aurilio
  Staff  Scientist
  U.S. Public Interest Research Group
  ----------------------------------------------------------------
  To receive regular energy policy alerts, summaries and updates
  from Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project, send the
  following message to listproc@essential.org: SUBSCRIBE CMEP-LIST
  [your name - organizational affiliation - home state]
  
  The Critical Mass home page is located at http://www.essential.org/CMEP