The U.S. nuclear industry announced the creation of a task force today to check the safety of American reactors in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex.

The 12-member steering committee -- including chairmen of industry groups and executives from nuclear companies -- will review safety measures taken by U.S. plant operators during emergencies. Members of the Electric Power Research Institute and the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, an industry body that conducts confidential safety evaluations at U.S. plants, will also sit on the committee.

Chip Pardee, Exelon Generation Co.'s chief operating officer, will lead the steering committee. He also is chairman of the Nuclear Energy Institute's Nuclear Strategic Issues Advisory Committee.

At issue: to determine if the United States' 104 reactors can withstand catastrophes that stretch emergency response procedures.

Pardee said the industry has learned from past emergencies such as hurricanes and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Although Japanese officials are still struggling to prevent further radioactive leaks and explosions at the Fukushima plant, the industry-led panel is using rough assumptions about areas that may need to be addressed -- including flooding, backup power and spent fuel pool safeguards and cooling capabilities.

The group will strive to meet seven strategic goals during the coming months, including a review of how quickly operators can respond to emergencies that wipe out power needed to cool reactors and spent fuel pools, and whether plants can manage and mitigate post-accident conditions such as increases in pressure or hydrogen in the primary containment.

Lessons learned will be farmed out to experts in the field and crafted into a set of recommendations that the steering committee will then challenge, adopt and impose upon the country's nuclear plant operators. At that point, INPO will start to inspect how well the new recommendations are being implemented.

The industry review is occurring alongside separate short- and long-term safety reviews by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. NRC said it expects to release results this summer but has said no findings to date have indicated American reactors are unsafe.

The industry review is not a competition with NRC's review, which focuses more on regulatory compliance, Pardee said.

"While we are sorting through essentially the same information, we are doing it through different lenses," he said.

Members of the steering committee:

• Pardee, chief operating officer of Exelon, will chair the steering committee.

• Randy Edington, executive vice president and chief nuclear officer of Arizona Public Service Co.

• Maria Korsnick, chief nuclear officer and chief operating officer of Constellation Energy Nuclear Group.

• John Herron, president, CEO and chief nuclear officer of Entergy Nuclear.

• Ed Halpin, president and CEO of STP Nuclear Operating Co.

• David Heacock, president and chief nuclear officer of Dominion Nuclear.

• Dennis Koehl, vice president and chief nuclear officer of Xcel Energy.

• Mike Pacilio, chief nuclear officer of Exelon Corp.

• Bill Webster, INPO's senior vice president of industry evaluations.

• Rick Purcell, INPO's senior vice president of industry performance improvement.

• Neil Wilmshurst, EPRI's vice president and chief nuclear officer.

• Tony Pietrangelo, NEI's senior vice president and chief nuclear officer.