A panel of senators, many of whom have nuclear plants peppered throughout their states, tomorrow will review U.S. regulators' implementation of safety recommendations in the wake of Japan's nuclear crisis in March.

The full Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the subpanel on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety will hold a joint hearing to examine safety proposals from a task force within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

NRC assembled the task force to review the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex in March, triggering explosions, radioactive leaks and evacuations. The panel released a dozen safety recommendations this month (Greenwire, July 13).

The task force said NRC should clarify and strengthen a "patchwork of regulatory requirements" and apply them more evenly to consider multiple crises.

The panel also said plant operators should re-evaluate and upgrade earthquake and flood risks to their facilities, secure backup power and instrumentation to monitor and cool spent fuel pools after a disaster, and add equipment to ensure they can tackle lengthy losses of electric power to the plants and address damage to more than one reactor.

But the findings have drawn a range of reactions from within the commission and industry.

NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko has called on the commission to digest and prioritize the safety recommendations within three months and make any necessary changes within five years, which garnered applause from Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee.

But Republican Commissioner Kristine Svinicki and Democratic Commissioner William Magwood have voted against such quick implementation, calling for more public input and increased collaboration and participation of a larger number of NRC staff. Magwood also said the task force did not have sufficient time to consider all relevant issues (E&E Daily, July 21).

Republican Commissioner William Ostendorff released his vote Thursday, also cautioning that moving too quickly could have unintended consequences. Ostendorff said his understanding of the Fukushima disaster has evolved as more information comes to light and that he agrees with Magwood and Svinicki that steps should be taken cautiously.

Calling it "one of the most important votes" he would cast as a commissioner, Ostendorff said he has "significant reservations" about the panel's recommendations to rethink the basis on which NRC's regulatory structure is founded. Such widespread changes are questionable after the task force report found that the current structure has served NRC well, he said.

Ostendorff also sided with Magwood and Svinicki that top NRC staff should weigh in on the report and help decide how the commission should move forward.

A senior NRC official said the votes are a "starting" point of discussion and that commissioners will now work to find common ground.

The nuclear industry has also taken issue with the report. Adrian Heymer, the Nuclear Energy Institute's senior director for new plant deployment, said at a public NRC hearing last week that the commission and the Energy Department only recently announced they will piece together the timeline of what happened at the Fukushima plant.

Heymer asked if the task force recommendations might change after more information comes to light, but members of the task force said they have a basic understanding of the catastrophe that helped guide the short- and long-term proposals.

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety, has urged the commission to talk to stakeholders and get public reaction on the report.

Carper also said that he would be "very disappointed if we are six months or a year down the road and have not seen any actions from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on any of the recommendations" (E&E Daily, July 21).

Click here to view Commissioner Ostendorff's vote on the task force recommendations.

Schedule: The hearing is tomorrow at 10 a.m. in 406 Dirksen.

Witnesses: TBA.