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Nine liberal Iowa senators have signed a letter to lawmakers asking that they postpone consideration of legislation to help clear the way for a second nuclear plant, given the disaster in Japan.

Japan is coping with damage to several reactors damaged by last week’s earthquakes and tsunamis.

In Iowa, a legislative subcommittee meeting about legislation intended to help clear the way for Iowa’s second nuclear plant is scheduled for Thursday afternoon following a 2 p.m. Senate Commerce Committee meeting. MidAmerican Energy President William Fehrman is expected to attend.

“The letter does not change our position” in favor of the legislation, MidAmerican spokeswoman Ann Thelen said.

Read the full letter here.

MidAmerican is studying whether to build a nuclear plant that would open by 2020 in an Iowa location to be picked later if feasibility studies prove financing would be available.

The Iowa Utilities Board would have to approve a new plant. Legislation proposed this year would set up some of the legal machinery for deciding rates that would apply to the new plant, a key step in gaining investors, Fehrman told The Register last week.

Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo is Iowa’s only nuclear plant, and one of the nation’s smallest.

“We are extremely concerned about proposed legislation that appears to be on a fast track to pave the way for the construction of one or more new nuclear power plants in Iowa,” the letter to legislative colleagues reads. Among the concerns cited: “There are significant safety and financial liability concerns, especially after the nuclear disaster in Japan. U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman has called for “putting the brakes on” the construction of new nuclear power plants “until we can absorb what has happened in Japan.”

The letter, released today, was signed by Democrats Daryl Beall, Dennis Black, Joe Bolkcom, Bob Dvorsky, Gene Fraise, Jack Hatch, Rob Hogg and Pam Jochum.

The senators contended the new plant design eyed by MidAmerican has not been approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, though MidAmerican said the modular technology would be used in another utility’s two planned reactors in Georgia. They also mention a site hasn’t been identified, questions over government oversight of new nuclear plants and uncertainty over how the plant would affect rates paid by Iowans and businesses.

Last week, legislative leaders appeared committed to the Iowa legislation setting the state for more nuclear power here, and MidAmerican said it could have a recommendation for a new plant ready by the end of the year.

Des Moines anti-nuclear activitist Jane Magers said Sustainable Energy Network and other organizations on Monday plan to ask President Obama and Congress to phase out the nation’s nuclear plants due to safety issues, and to ban federal aid for new ones. “This is definitely the way I feel we’ve got to go,” Magers said.

The Japan issue has changed the debate dramatically, said Magers, a long-time activist fighting nuclear power. She’s used to getting little attention. That’s changed.

“We’ve gone from not having anyone listen to us to a wild week,” Magers said. “The United States can implement a renewable energy economy by 2030. We’ve got to get rid of both nuclear and coal.”

Supporters of nuclear power contend it is clean, poses less human health risks that coal-burning, on a day to day basis, and is a way to address concerns about greenhouse gas emissions blamed for climate change.

Iowa gets most of its power from coal, with less than 5 percent coming from nuclear.