The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“COMMERCIAL SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL STORAGE” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Senate section on pages S7632 on May 26, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
COMMERCIAL SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL STORAGE
Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, I would like to commend the Senator from Alaska [Mr. Murkowski] for the statement yesterday on the need to develop a timely solution for the management of spent nuclear fuel from the Nation's 109 commercial nuclear power plants.
As the new chairman of the Energy Committee, Senator Murkowski has already assumed a leading role in examining America's policy on high-
level radioactive waste management and I appreciate the chairman's ongoing commitment to change that policy to ensure that we continue to make progress in a program so vital to the national interest.
Mr. President, the United States has struggled to fashion a workable policy on high-level radioactive waste disposal since the Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.
In 1987, President Ronald Reagan signed amendments to that act to direct the Department of Energy to study Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a likely repository site. A cadre of world-class scientists have been conducting first-of-a-kind experiments at Yucca Mountain to determine if the site is suitable for the ultimate disposition of spent nuclear fuel from civilian nuclear reactors a well as defense high-level radioactive waste.
Electric consumers have committed $11 billion since 1983 to finance these studies, a total that includes $563 million collected from consumers of nuclear electricity generated in South Carolina. Unfortunately, the year 2010 is the earliest possible date that a repository might be ready to accept spent fuel.
In the meantime, nuclear power plants across the country are running out of capacity to store spent fuel. By 1998, 26 plants will have exhausted existing capacity to store spent fuel, including the Oconee and Robinson plants in South Carolina.
In addition to designating Yucca Mountain, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act made the Federal Government responsible for taking title to spent nuclear fuel beginning in 1998.
In order to meet its obligations, therefore, the Federal Government must now develop a temporary storage facility for spent fuel from the Nation's nuclear power plants. In just 3 years DOE is scheduled to assume responsibility for the spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants. It must begin planning now to build and operate a facility to fulfill that obligation.
Legislation introduced in both the Senate and House would develop an integrated approach to spent fuel management, including the construction and operation of a single Federal facility to store spent fuel until a permanent solution is available. Legislation in both Chambers identifies the sensible location for such a storage facility--
the Nevada test site.
This Federal facility is the most logical location for such an interim site. It borders Yucca Mountain, a remote, unpopulated, and arid location in the Nevada Desert. Moreover, the site is on land that has been dedicated to underground nuclear testing for more than 40 years, and thus appropriately dedicated to a project like this one.
Building a central storage facility at the Nevada test site does not prejudge the question of whether Yucca Mountain is suitable, but there are tremendous advantages to locating it there. Among the most appealing is ease of transportation of the spent fuel from storage facility to repository.
Building a central storage facility that is operating by 1998 and a repository by 2010 will save electric consumers $5 billion over the life cycle of the waste management program. These cost savings will be further enhanced, primarily through ease of transportation, if the storage facility is located near the repository site.
Mr. President, the time has come to address the problems that have plagued the Department of Energy's nuclear waste management program. We can take the first step this year by authorizing and using funds already contributed by electricity consumers to develop a central storage facility in Nevada.
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