Authorizes and directs the department of health to conduct an evaluation of any nuclear power plant operating in this state prior to the issuance of a license to extend the period of operation of such plant; establishes the nuclear power plant citizen advisory board.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7408
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 4, 2011
___________
Introduced by M. of A. THIELE -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. GIGLIO
-- read once and referred to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to directing the
commissioner of health to evaluate the history of the radioactive
emissions from a nuclear power plant prior to the extension of a
license to operate
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature finds and declares
2 that:
3 1. Historically, the nuclear power industry has obtained operating
4 licenses with a finite time period and many of these licenses are reach-
5 ing the end of such time periods. The re-licensing and/or transfer of
6 these operating licenses is a large commitment of public resources that
7 should be made with the utmost caution and opportunity for public
8 comment.
9 2. A recent study has shown that infant death rates near five U.S.
10 nuclear plants dropped significantly after the reactors closed and
11 raised questions about the federal government's refusal to consider the
12 effects of radioactive emissions from nuclear plants on local residents.
13 In the first two years after the reactors closed, infant death rates
14 fell fifteen to twenty percent from the previous two years, compared to
15 an average national decline of only six percent between 1985 and 1996.
16 In each of the five areas studied, no other nuclear reactor operates
17 within seventy miles of the closed reactor, essentially creating a
18 "nuclear-free zone." The study detailed the plunges in newly-diagnosed
19 leukemia and cancer cases and birth defect deaths in children under five
20 years in the four-county local area downwind from Rancho Seco. This
21 excessive decline has continued through the first seven years after the
22 June 1989 closing. In contrast, the local infant death rate rose in the
23 two years after Rancho Seco began operations in 1974.
24 3. Moreover, dramatic decreases in childhood cancer cases and deaths
25 from birth defects, which are strongly affected by radiation exposure,
26 occurred near one of the reactors. Because this study raises questions
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10952-01-1
A. 7408 2
1 about the risks to the health of forty-two million Americans living
2 downwind and under fifty miles of nuclear power plants, it is incumbent
3 upon the state of New York to consider the potential adverse health
4 effects associated with nuclear plant operations before the renewal of
5 plant licenses.
6 § 2. Article 2 of the public health law is amended by adding a new
7 title 6 to read as follows:
8 TITLE VI
9 NUCLEAR POWER PLANT EVALUATION
10 Section 267. Nuclear power plant evaluation.
11 268. Nuclear power plant citizen advisory board.
12 § 267. Nuclear power plant evaluation. 1. The department is hereby
13 authorized and directed to conduct an evaluation of any nuclear power
14 plant operating in this state prior to the issuance of a license to
15 extend the period of operation of such plant. The department is directed
16 to consult and cooperate with any nuclear plant licensing agency to
17 effectuate the provisions of this section. Such evaluation shall consist
18 of a comprehensive study of the history of the radioactive emissions
19 from such nuclear power plant and a study of the changes in the rates of
20 cancer, types of cancer and patterns of cancer in the geographic area
21 around such plant. Upon the completion of such evaluation, the depart-
22 ment shall issue a written report containing the findings of such evalu-
23 ation to the nuclear power plant licensing agency and the nuclear power
24 plant.
25 2. No nuclear power plant operating in this state shall obtain a
26 license to extend the period of operation of such plant without first
27 obtaining a report from the department pursuant to subdivision one of
28 this section.
29 § 268. Nuclear power plant citizen advisory board. 1. There is hereby
30 established within the department a nuclear power plant citizen advisory
31 board. Such board shall consist of thirteen members as follows:
32 a. the commissioner;
33 b. three members from the public health community from the state
34 university of New York, one of whom shall be appointed by the governor,
35 one by the temporary president of the senate and one by the speaker of
36 the assembly;
37 c. three members from organizations which advocate on behalf of
38 persons with breast cancer, one of whom shall be appointed by the gover-
39 nor, one by the temporary president of the senate and one by the speaker
40 of the assembly;
41 d. three members from recognized and established environmental commu-
42 nities, one of whom shall be appointed by the governor, one by the
43 temporary president of the senate and one by the speaker of the assem-
44 bly; and
45 e. three members from organizations which advocate on behalf of chil-
46 dren with cancer, one of whom shall be appointed by the governor, one by
47 the temporary president of the senate and one by the speaker of the
48 assembly.
49 2. The advisory board, in cooperation with the department, shall
50 develop the method and procedure for the evaluation of nuclear power
51 plants required by section two hundred sixty-seven of this title and
52 shall issue a written report with recommendations to the department
53 within six months of the effective date of this title.
54 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
