WASHINGTON — Rep. Diana DeGette said Wednesday that Japan was not “some Third World country with rinky-dink technology” and that if a disaster occurred there, it could probably occur anywhere.
A House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing set weeks ago to talk about the budget turned into a “Could the Japanese nuclear disaster happen here?” question-and-answer session with Energy Secretary Steven Chu as members parsed the disaster and pressed officials on their emergency plans.
DeGette, a Denver Democrat who just traveled to Japan during a congressional recess, said to Chu: “The thing I’m concerned about is you can’t always plan for every exigency. We saw it with the Deepwater Horizon disaster. . . . How can we ever anticipate the worst, so that we can be prepared for it?”
Chu said the U.S. Department of Energy is working on high-performance computers and simulation techniques to make nuclear reactors safer in the United States.
Rep. Cory Gardner, also on the committee, pressed U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman Gregory Jaczko on the information the U.S. government was receiving from Japan.
“When I asked if he was satisfied with the information coming from Japan, he was unclear,” Gardner said.
Gardner, a Republican from Yuma, said he favors nuclear energy as part of his “all of the above” energy policy approach, but he said Wednesday, “Again, we have to make sure we’re learning from what is taking place.
“I don’t think this is the time to criticize; I think this is the time to focus on a humanitarian effort,” he said.
Sen. Mark Udall echoed a similar sentiment this week. The Colorado Democrat, who has spoken in favor of nuclear energy in the past, said he is watching the situation in Japan closely.
“It brings up a new level of concern that we all must weigh heavily as we consider our future energy challenges,” he said in a statement.
“As the United States continues to develop its comprehensive energy policy, the tragedies of the past year, including the gulf oil spill and the West Virginia coal mine explosion, show us that we need to continue to do everything possible to ensure that energy production is safe and secure.”
Allison Sherry: 202-662-8907 or asherry@denverpost.com
