I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1242 

To ensure that nuclear power plants can withstand and adequately respond 

to earthquakes, tsunamis, strong storms, or other events that threaten 

a major impact. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 29, 2011 

Mr. MARKEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To ensure that nuclear power plants can withstand and adequately respond to earthquakes, tsunamis, strong storms, 

or other events that threaten a major impact. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nuclear Power Plant 

5 Safety Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NUCLEAR POWER PLANT SAFETY. 

7 (a) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 14 of the Atomic Energy 

8 Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.) is amended by add9 ing at the end the following new section: 


Emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 1242 IH

1 ‘‘SEC. 170J. REVISION OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

2 SAFETY REGULATIONS.— 

3 ‘‘a. Not later than 90 days after the date of enact4 ment of the Nuclear Power Plant Safety Act of 2011, the 

5 Commission shall initiate a rulemaking proceeding, includ6 ing notice and opportunity for public comment, to be com7 pleted not later than 18 months after such date of enact8 ment, to revise its regulations to ensure that each utiliza9 tion facility licensed under this Act can withstand and ade10 quately respond to— 

11 ‘‘(1) an earthquake, tsunami (for a facility lo12 cated in a coastal area), strong storm, or other event 

13 that threatens a major impact to the facility; 

14 ‘‘(2) a loss of the primary operating power 

15 source for at least 14 days; and 

16 ‘‘(3) a loss of the primary backup operating 

17 power source for at least 72 hours. 

18 ‘‘b. The revision of regulations under this section 

19 shall provide for— 

20 ‘‘(1) a requirement that each licensed utiliza21 tion facility, including any onsite spent nuclear fuel 

22 facilities, be equipped with resilient containment, 

23 safety, and diagnostic systems sufficient to with24 stand the circumstances described in subsection a., 

25 including requirements to ensure that the reactor 


Emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 1242 IH

1 core remains cooled, that the containment remains 

2 intact, and that the spent fuel cooling and spent fuel 

3 pool integrity are maintained; 

4 ‘‘(2) a requirement that licensees have at least 

5 14 days worth of emergency power system fuel on6 site with which to power the licensed facility in the 

7 event of a loss of the primary operating power 

8 source; 

9 ‘‘(3) a requirement that licensees have suffi10 cient secondary emergency power to power the li11 censed facility in the event of a loss of both the pri12 mary operating power source and the emergency 

13 power system described in paragraph (2) for at least 

14 72 hours; 

15 ‘‘(4) a requirement that licensees develop, and 

16 obtain approval from the Commission for, a plan to 

17 obtain sufficient additional fuel or batteries in the 

18 event of a long duration loss of operating power or 

19 total station blackout; 

20 ‘‘(5) a requirement that licensees amend, and 

21 obtain approval from the Commission for, any guid22 ance and strategies developed by the licensees that 

23 are intended to maintain or restore core cooling, 

24 containment, and spent fuel pool cooling capabilities 

25 under the circumstances associated with loss of large 


Emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 1242 IH

1 areas of the plant due to explosions or fire, in order 

2 to incorporate lessons learned from the Fukushima 

3 nuclear power plant meltdown into such guidance 

4 and strategies; 

5 ‘‘(6) a requirement that spent nuclear fuel rods 

6 be moved from storage pools to certified dry cask 

7 storage within one year of the nuclear fuel rods 

8 being qualified to be placed in the certified dry 

9 casks; 

10 ‘‘(7) a requirement to configure spent nuclear 

11 fuel rods in spent nuclear fuel pools in a manner 

12 that would minimize the chance of a fire in the event 

13 of the loss of the water in the spent nuclear fuel 

14 pool; 

15 ‘‘(8) a requirement that emergency response ex16 ercises include scenarios that are based on the near17 simultaneous occurrence of circumstances described 

18 in subsection a. such as the near-simultaneous 

19 earthquake, tsunami, and total station blackout that 

20 occurred at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 

21 2011; and 

22 ‘‘(9) appropriate requirements for periodic 

23 verification of compliance with the regulations issued 

24 under this section. 


Emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 1242 IH

1 ‘‘c. The Commission shall not issue an approval for 

2 any construction permit, operating license, license exten3 sion, design certification, combined license, design ap4 proval, or manufacturing license until the revisions of reg5 ulations under this section take effect.’’. 

6 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con7 tents of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 is amended by 

8 inserting after the item relating to section 170I the fol9 lowing new item: 

‘‘Sec. 170J. Revision of nuclear power plant safety regulations.’’. 

10 SEC. 3. LOAN GUARANTEES. 

11 Section 1702(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 

12 (42 U.S.C. 16512(b)) is amended by inserting after para13 graph (2) the following: 

14 ‘‘In the case of a guarantee for advanced nuclear energy 

15 facilities, the Secretary shall ensure that the cost of the 

16 obligation is calculated using a consideration of the 

17 Tohoku earthquake of 2011 to estimate the risk character18 istics of the project.’’. 

Æ 


Emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with BILLS