Aging nuclear power plants and outdated regulations could combine for a Fukushima-style radioactive disaster in the United States, a Senate committee was warned Tuesday.

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission task force called the prospect of a Japanese scenario "unlikely," but the NRC panel's 82-page report also proposed a 12-step plan to expand and strengthen safety standards.

Senators at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing split along party lines, with Republicans hailing the nuclear industry's safety record while skeptical Democrats expressed urgency for tighter oversight.

"'Unlikely' isn't nearly good enough," declared Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Citing a recent Associated Press report alleging "weakened safety standards to keep aging reactors online," Sanders urged the NRC to move aggressively.

Adding fuel to the debate, an unpublished October 2010 NRC draft analysis of a hypothetical Fukushima-like disaster at a Pennsylvania nuclear plant projected nearly 1,000 cancer deaths within 50 miles of the plant, even if nearby residents were quickly evacuated.

Depending on weather conditions, the death toll could hit 10,000.

NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko on Tuesday said the task force found that "continued operation and continued licensing activities do not pose an imminent risk to public health and safety." But the panel indicated that the NRC’s "existing regulatory framework does not apply defense-in-depth and risk insights consistently."

With 104 nuclear power plants in 31 states -- including five in Florida, and four more proposed in the state -- the task force concluded that safety could and should be improved.

"Design basis external hazards were established during the construction permit phase for operating U.S. plants, and they are not typically revisited through the life of the plant. The last construction permit for an operating U.S. plant was issued in 1978, and for many plants, this was completed in the 1960s," Jaczko said.

"Since that time, there have been significant advancements in the state of knowledge and state of analysis methods for seismic and flooding hazards," he testified.

The task force concluded that "it is appropriate for licensees to re-evaluate the designs of existing nuclear power reactors to ensure that structures, systems and components important to safety will withstand such events without loss of capability to perform their intended safety function," Jaczko related.


FIRE ISSUES AND 'PROTECTION' ZONES AT FLORIDA PLANTS

Senators sparred vigorously over the scope and pace of regulatory reform. Chairman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., pushed for a 90-day implementation of task force recommendations while Republican committee members generally argued for a more deliberate approach.

The NRC's five commissioners are in the middle, with some members calling for more staff information before acting.

For storm-prone Florida, whose reactors are on or near coastal regions, the stakes could be significant.

"All Florida plants have fire-protection problems," said Dave Lochbaum, director of the nuclear safety project at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

He told Sunshine State News that pumps and fire protection equipment added at reactors in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks may not be protected in the event of a natural disaster, such as a hurricane.

"Much of that equipment is stored in nonrobust facilities that may not survive hurricanes," Lochbaum said.

UCS estimates that more than 40 reactors across the country do not comply with fire-protection regulations instituted in 1980 and amended in 2004.