NRC Chairman Jackzo's Testimony to the Senate Subcommittee on Energy and Water

Folks,

The written testimony of NRC Chairman Jackzo to the Subcommittee on Energy and Water within the Appropriation Committee of the US Senate may be found at the following URL address. Please copy and paste this into the address field of your web browser to view the Adobe Acrobat Portable Document File.

http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/organization/commission/comm-gregory-jaczko/jaczko-statement-3-30-11.pdf

The bottom line is this: the nuclear reactors in the United States are safe, and the new passive safety designs of Westinghouse's AP1000 PWR proposal and GEH's ESBWR proposal are even better. I do not, however, feel as comfortable with the reliance on active safety system measures in Mitshubishi's APWR proposal or Areva's EPR proposal. But both of these are still superior to the existing fleet the light water reactors currently in use within the United States. I will add that I have never liked the idea of elevated spent fuel pools that is part and parcel of the current GE BWR design. Fortunately ESBWR obviates concern over this, but I am not sure that ABWR does (I can't recall right now).

One last thing: we should never ever get arrogant in our technological prowess. The magnitude 9 earthquake that shook Japan is minuscule compared to the eruptions from beneath the Earth's crust that formed the Siberian Traps some 500 million years ago. And the 35 foot tsunami that flooded Japan's eastern costal region is not even a ripple on the pond's surface when considering the 63.8 million square miles of area that the Pacific Ocean covers. No matter how tall man builds his Tower of Babel, God can knock it down quicker than snake snot (I know, I know - how quick is snake snot?). Glorifying in our technology (which is nothing other than the work of our hands) is the same kind of idolatry as what the ancient Israelites indulged themselves in when they made for themselves a Golden Calf because Moses took too long on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments.