By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

A GROUP of lawmakers is asking the U.S. Department of Energy to help the CNMI government study the possibility of developing nuclear energy to solve the islands’ power crisis.
Dr. Thomas D. Arkle Jr., special consultant for resource development at the Tinian Mayor’s Office, said there are a lot of possibilities in nuclear energy, but the CNMI will need the energy department’s technical expertise and financial assistance.
Arkle on Friday discussed with a group of lawmakers how nuclear energy could help the islands obtain reliable energy at a lower cost.
But before the project could begin, Arkle said the Legislature must amend Public Law 3-42 or the CNMI Nuclear and Chemical Free Zone Act.
P.L. 3-42 which was signed in 1983 was originally designed to ban the dumping of nuclear and chemical waste in the ocean and the seabed surrounding the CNMI.
Arkle said the amendment should specify the exception from the ban of advanced nuclear power generators.
Citing his research, Arkle said the Japanese firm Toshiba has designed a nuclear power plant that requires no refueling for up to 30 years.
Arkle said the islands could explore the possibility of asking nuclear power generation manufacturers to assist the commonwealth in introducing safe and compact nuclear power generators.
He said nuclear energy is environment friendly and will address the islands’ need for a cheap but reliable power supply.
Before the presentation ended, House Joint Resolution No. 15-18 was prefiled by Rep. Stanley Torres, Ind.-Saipan; House Minority Leader Arnold I. Palacios, R-Saipan; Reps. Ramon A. Tebuteb, Candido B. Taman and Benjamin Seman, R-Saipan, and; Rep. Ray N. Yumul, Ind.-Saipan.
The resolution seeks to encourage the participation of the U.S. Department of Energy and the nuclear power generation manufacturers to assist the commonwealth in exploring the feasibility of using safe and compact nuclear power generators.