The Nation - News from July 9, 1987

A House committee defeated on a 21-21 tie legislation to subject nuclear contractors for the Energy Department to financial penalties for safety violations or reactor accidents. The Energy and Commerce Committee also reversed its decision that would have barred the commercial nuclear industry from paying its attorneys out of an accident liability pool until after all victims of an accident had been fully compensated. It then approved, on a voice vote, renewal of the Price-Anderson Act, which requires the industry to assume sole responsibility for damages from reactor accidents, in return for a limit on liability.