Senate Proceeding on Mar 14th, 2011 :: 2:16:30 to 2:30:30
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2:16:25 to 2:16:30( Edit History Discussion )

Jon Kyl: industries in our state over the last 30 years, so as a result, tennessee have been reaching out

2:16:30 to 2:30:30( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Lamar Alexander

2:16:31 to 2:16:51( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: to our friends and their families in japan. we should also commend the japanese for their courage that they have shown in dealing with the devastation and particularly with their level-headed response to the damage that their nuclear reactors at fukushima daiichi. in this instance, when communication can sometimes

2:16:52 to 2:17:12( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: create misinformation and even panic, the japanese leadership and nuclear shifts are working with organizations around the world in responding to the danger of keeping the rest of the world informed. this is the largest earthquake in japan's recorded history, 30 times more forceful than the san francisco earthquake of 1906, 700 times stronger than the 2010

2:17:13 to 2:17:34( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: earthquake in haiti. so while the risk is no means over and the events in japan continue to evolve, the reactor's safety systems so far appear to have done their job in withstanding the earthquake tsunami power loss and

2:17:35 to 2:17:56( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: sploarks -- explosions and none of the containment structures seem to have been breached in these worst-case conditions. so the lesson americans can take away from this tragedy is this: learn all that we can from the japanese experience to make the operation of american reactors as safe as possible. mr. president, i would ask for

2:17:57 to 2:18:18( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: an additional five minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: mr. president, since the 1950's, the united states navy has safely traveled more than 136 million miles on nuclear power. today 104 civilian reactors produce 20% of america's

2:18:19 to 2:18:41( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: electricity and 70% of our clean electricity. that is, without sulfur, without nitrogen, without mercury or without carbon. no one has ever died from a nuclear accident of any of our commercial or navy reactors. let me say that again. no one has ever died from a reactor accident at one of our

2:18:42 to 2:19:03( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: navy or commercial reactors. without nuclear power, it is hard to imagine how the united states could produce enough cheap, reliable, clean electricity to keep our economy moving and keep our jobs from going overseas. here's what we know about what has happened in japan. we have all seen the video of

2:19:04 to 2:19:24( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: the explosion of the building at daiichi unit one and now unit three. i'm sure many of us thought that those were reactors exploding. fortunately, that's not what happened. a buildup of hydrogen gas in the secondary containment structures led to explosions which destroyed the buildings themselves, but the primary containment structures inside

2:19:25 to 2:19:45( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: appear not to have been compromised. to reduce the resulting increase in containment pressure, a relatively small amount of radioactive vapor has been dispersed into the atmosphere. the tokyo electric power company has told us that the highest level of radiation detected on site to date is 155.7-milligram

2:19:46 to 2:20:06( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: per hour, and that level has since been reduced to 4.4 per hour. what does that mean in regard to human exposure risk? to help put that in perspective, here's a couple of facts. the average american receives about 300 millirim of radiation exposure each year from

2:20:07 to 2:20:28( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: naturally occurring sources such as the sun, and another 300 mill irim of exposure from medical applications such as c.t. scans and x-rays. what did happen after the earthquake is that the ensuing tsunami crippled the backup electrical generators and

2:20:29 to 2:20:51( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: batteries needed to keep cooling water circulating in the plants after they had been safely shut down. this ultimately led to the use of the last line of defense emergency, core cooling system, flooding the entire containment vessel with seawater. while this pretty much assures that the reactors won't ever be used again, as long as the seawater continues to be pumped in, the possibilities of further

2:20:52 to 2:21:13( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: damage ought to be halted. people have been evacuated, and authorities are taking every precaution, and that, of course, is what we would like to see. despite one of the largest earthquakes in the world, the world's history, with the aftershocks, multiple disasters compounded one on top of another, the primary containment

2:21:14 to 2:21:34( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: reactors near the epicenter appear not to have been breached and the radioactive release appears to have been controlled and minimal. this experience has brought back memories of the 1979 accident at three mile island in pennsylvania.

2:21:35 to 2:21:56( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: although we remember three mile island as the worst nuclear accident in u.s. history, it's also important to remember that no one was hurt at three mile island. as i said before, there has never been a death resulting from a commercial nuclear accident in american history. what happened at three mile island was basically an operator

2:21:57 to 2:22:18( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: failure, a valve failed, and when the automatic safety mechanism kicked in, the operators overrode it because they became confused by the number of alarms. three mile island completely changed the american nuclear industry. the kennedy commission appointed by president carter analyzed the problems, made many recommendations, almost all of which have been put into practice.

2:22:19 to 2:22:39( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: the valve that started the whole thing had failed nine times before in other reactors but the manufacturer tried to keep it a secret. people in the nuclear industry then just didn't talk to each other. now safety is a top priority of the nuclear industry. the institute of nuclear power operations collectively shares best practices to achieve the highest levels of safety as well

2:22:40 to 2:23:00( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: as reliability. nuclear operators train for five years before they could take over in the control room. they spend one week out of every five to six weeks in a simulator honing their skills. the nuclear companies have special emergency teams that can be dispatched anywhere in the country at a moment's notice.?? a nuclear regulatory commission

2:23:01 to 2:23:23( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: inspector practically lives on site. what's more, every reactor in the country is on the hook for more than $100 million if something goes wrong at another reactor. as you can imagine, they watch each other i have talked with any number of navy veterans who had experience with nuclear reason i am confident that there

2:23:24 to 2:23:45( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: haven't been any nuclear reactor accidents in the nuclear navy that have killed anyone over the last half century is because the responsibility for the safety of that reactor goes right up to the captain of the vessel. all this wasn't the same at chernobyl, the infamous 1986 soviet accident.

2:23:46 to 2:24:07( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: chernobyl involved 60 immediate deaths and radiation exposures that according to the world health organization may eventually result in 4,000 cancers. but chernobyl was a completely different kind of accident and the result of different technology. more than that, the soviets hadn't built a containment structure at chernobyl. the containment structures at

2:24:08 to 2:24:29( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: these japanese reactors 40- 40-80 inches thick concrete and steel appear, appear, as we speak this afternoon, to have withstood an 8.9 magnitude earthquake, a tsunami, power failure and explosion. mr. president, there are gas and oil fires raging in japan.

2:24:30 to 2:24:50( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: water and sewer systems are damaged. the possibility of disease and starvation are eminent. there are a great many things to worry about in addition to the problems with the japanese reactor. th people still unaccounted for. right now, the effort needs to

2:24:51 to 2:25:11( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: be helping those who need help, containing further damage and risk and getting japan back up and running again. then we can take the lessons learned from this earthquake and tsunami and apply them to make our nuclear plants as safely as possible and help the world do the same. america's 104 nuclear reactors

2:25:12 to 2:25:34( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: provide, as i mentioned earlier, 20% of our electricity, 70% of our clean electricity. japan has 54 reactors and gets 30% of its electricity from nuclear. france gets 80% of its electricity from nuclear power. the united states invented nuclear power, but the nuclear regulatory commission has not issued a construction license

2:25:35 to 2:25:55( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: for a new reactor in more than 30 years. there are 65 reactors under construction around the world outside the united states right now, but only one of those 65 is in the united states, and that's the construction of a previously halted project at the tennessee valley authority.

2:25:56 to 2:26:18( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: the japanese and the french have surged into the lead in terms of nuclear power and are now being challenged by korea and russia on the international market, and china, with 27 nuclear reactors currently under construction, will soon join them all. nuclear power today provides

2:26:19 to 2:26:39( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: about 15% of the world's electricity. there are always risks with every form of energy. it's important that we be clear about the risks that each type of energy poses, but it's also important to remember that we don't abandon -- we don't abandon highway systems because

2:26:40 to 2:27:02( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: bridges and overpasses collapse during earthquakes. the 1.6 million of us who fly daily would not stop flying after a tragic airplane crash. we cannot stop drilling after a tragic oil spill unless we want to rely more on foreign oil, one up our prices, turn our oil

2:27:03 to 2:27:23( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: drilling over to a few big oil companies, and all our oil hauling over to more leaky tankers. 34,000 people die in motor vehicle accidents every year, but we don't stop driving because we have to get our children to work and our children to school and ourselves to work. in all of these cases, when

2:27:24 to 2:27:44( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: there are accidents, we do our best to examine the tragedies and make our continued operation and our lives as safe as possible. that's what we need to do here. our reactors in the united states are built to the highest standards in the world. the chairman of the nuclear

2:27:45 to 2:28:05( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: regulatory commission said in a press briefing today right now we believe that the nuclear power plants in this country operate safely and securely. the chairman said nuclear power plants in the united states are designed to very high standards for earthquake effects. all our plants are designed to withstand significant natural

2:28:06 to 2:28:26( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: phenomenon like earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis. we will take whatever steps are necessary, the chairman continued, to ensure the safety and security of nuclear power plants in the country, but right now we believe we have a very strong program in place. as we get more information from japan, said the chairman of the

2:28:27 to 2:28:47( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: united states nuclear regulatory commission, as this immediate crisis ultimately comes to an end, we will look at whatever information we can gain from this event and see if there are any changes we need to make in our system. the deputy secretary of energy said nuclear power has been a critical component of the united states energy portfolio. the white house press secretary

2:28:48 to 2:29:09( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: on behalf of president obama said nuclear power remains a part of the president's overall energy plan. despite the fact that there has never been a death as a result of the operation of a commercial american reactor nor in our nuclear navy, which has been

2:29:10 to 2:29:30( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: using reactors in its ships and submarines since the 1950's, our goal should be to continue every effort to try to make certain that the operation of our existing and new nuclear power plants are as safe as possible. for example, some have suggested that so-called passive cooling

2:29:31 to 2:29:52( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: systems that operate on natural convection currents and don't need pumping would prevent the problems that arose in japan when the backup power to pump water was lost. mr. president, nuclear power is a demanding but manageable technology. as we move forward, let us learn the proper lessons from this

2:29:53 to 2:30:07( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: japanese experience to make sure that in the united states and in the world we are even better prepared for the unexpected events of the future. i thank the president and i