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EMD-80-80 1 (1980-08-18)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabaxk0001 and id is 1 raw text is: COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES WASHINGTON. 0.C. 2C548 B-197742 AUGUST 18,1980 The Honorable John D. Dingell Chairman, Subcommittee on Energy and Power Committee on Interstate and 113089 Foreign Commerce House of Representatives Dear Mr. Chairman: Subject: /Analysis of the Price-Anderson Act -EMD-80-0) This report responds to that part of your April 20, 1979, request which asked for an analysis of the Price-Anderson Act of 1957. Based on the entire reauest and subsequent discussions with your staff, we devoted ourselves first to a comprehensive and objective investigation of the accident at Three Mile is- land, Pennsylvania. Afterwards, we conducted an analysis of the Price-Anderson Act, which governs nuclear accident liabil- Jty for damages inflicted offsite from the powerplant. In our view, the Price-Anderson Act is fulfilling its intended purpose of providing financial protection to the public and the nuclear industry in the event of a nuclear accident. Because of that, we believe that the act should be retained in its basic form as long as it is the national policy to encourage or permit the use of commercial nuclear power. it is also important to note that utilities have been Licensed to operate 70 nuclear powerplants and to con- struct 126 additional plants under the protection afforded them by the Price-Anderson Act. Removing that protection now without replacing it with comparable liability coverage would not be in the Nation's best interest. >;evertheless, we believe certain provisions of the Price-Anderson Act should be revised. For instance, the $560-million limit on liability is completely arbitrary and (301348)