Senate Committee Requests Plans for Nuclear Emergencies

WASHINGTON--A Senate committee voted yesterday to shut down in six months all nuclear power plants operating in states without a government-approved emergency evacuation plan.

Members of the Environment and Public Works Committee said yesterday the action could force the closing of 41 reactors in 16 states which lack evacuation plans approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

The committee also voted to deny operating licenses to reactors now under construction in states without approved evacuation plans.

Committee aides said yesterday that as many as a dozen plants nearing completion could be affected.

New Year

The committee agreed to the proposals, made by Sen. Gary Hart (D-Colo.), and authorized NRC programs for the fiscal year that begins October 1.

"It's an absolute anomaly that you can operate a nuclear reactor in this country without an emergency plan," Hart said yesterday before the committee.

The House Interior Committee approved the same proposals after a House committee voted Wednesday to impose a temporary moratorium on nuclear plant construction.

Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) said yesterday the NRC does not have precise regulations governing evacuation plans. He proposed allowing the agency 90 days to draft regulations and then giving the states nine months to comply. His proposal failed.

The Senate committee, which called for a $400,000 study of the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear facility in Pennsylvania, also approved a proposal that requires the NRC to draft legislation giving the government sole authority to operate a reactor during an emergency.