Ed Markey, senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and top Democrat on the House Natural Resources CommitteeEd Markey (Democrat-Massachusetts), who truly has been "Congress’ leading voice for nuclear safety" for a 35 years, has documented that yesterday's emergency diesel generator failure at North Anna nuclear power plant was the 74th such failure in the U.S. over just the past 8 years. Markey issued a media release, with links to his full letter to NRC Chairman Jaczko calling for strengthened safety regulations on emergency diesel generators, as well as a link to his report entitled "Fukushima Fallout," on the remarkable failure rate of these vital safety systems. In late March, Markey introduced legislation to upgrade U.S. nuclear safety regulations in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. He has called for a suspension of NRC licensing activities until post-Fukushima "lessons learned" and safety upgrades can be implemented. And he has blasted NRC Commissioners Svinicki, Magwood, and Ostendorff for footdragging, while praising NRC Chairman Jaczko for calling for expedited action, regarding implementation of the NRC "Near Term Task Force" Fukushima policy recommendations.