Senate Votes to Reorganize Nuclear Panel

The Senate voted Monday to abolish the five-member Nuclear Regulatory Commission and create a new Nuclear Safety Agency with a single administrator to make regulation of commercial atomic power plants more effective.

On a vote of 89 to 6, senators approved the reorganization legislation that also includes an amendment directing the NRC and its successor to develop rules leading to a standardized design for nuclear reactors and eventually to a quicker approval process for civilian nuclear plants built to that design.

The legislation must be reconciled with a House-passed bill that continues the existing regulatory system.

Assistant Senate Republican leader Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming said the current regulatory system is unworkable and must be overhauled.

‘Indecisive, Inefficient’

“It is absolutely indecisive and inefficient,” said Simpson, adding that the bill “will help restore public confidence in nuclear power. . . . The time is long overdue for this fundamental change.”

The bill’s floor manager, Sen. John B. Breaux (D-La.), said the NRC has “people and organizational problems.”

The commission, he said, has “failed to maintain the proper perspective” between a regulatory agency and the industry being regulated.

Other provisions of the bill set up a separate three-member reactor safety investigations board--a move to improve public confidence--and order the establishment of a nuclear data link to allow instant communication from plants to the new NSA in case of a plant emergency.

Both the head of the new agency and the deputy administrator would be selected by the President, subject to Senate confirmation.