Committee Chairwoman Teresita A. Santos, Ind.-Rota, and four other members of the panel, expressed support for House Bill 17-83.
This bill seeks to amend the Nuclear and Chemical Free Zone Act of 1983 to allow the CNMI to use modern, passive, self-contained nuclear batteries to produce electricity.
The committee said this will provide the CNMI with economical and safe power generation.
“Currently, the Nuclear and Chemical Free Zone Act of 1983 does not allow for any type of nuclear activity on Saipan, for fear of nuclear spillage or contamination in our waterways and oceans,” the committee said in its report.
“However, this new nuclear technology, which has been designed and developed by the famed United States Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, and licensed to Hyperion Power Generation and later to others, will not be a hazard to our natural resources. This is due to its modern design of self-contained, super-safe, battery-type cylinders, that are secured and placed under ground in secure concrete chambers,” it added.
The committee said an overwhelming majority of those who attended the public hearings for the bill favored its passage.
“The enactment of House Bill 17-38 will save the commonwealth and its businesses, homes and government operations millions of dollars, and it will not harm or diminish our natural resources. This translates to a better socio-environmental system in our islands,” it said.
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