Lisa Murkowski: “if I may make a correction regarding what I believe is the intent of my friend from New Mexico. It does not exclude a…”

“if I may make a correction regarding what I believe is the intent of my friend from New Mexico. It does not exclude a State, but it does exclude sites. My State of Alaska has had the experience of two underground nuclear explosions, the two largest that have ever occurred. That is the limitation of our experience. I cannot speak for Senators from the State of Washington or Oregon. Senator Wyden, as you know, felt very strongly about eliminating the Hanford site. He explained his rationale to me, that Hanford was still receiving substantial quantities of waste associated with reactors that had been cut up from the submarines, coming up the Columbia River. I hope he comes to the floor and speaks for himself, but on this matter he explained that he felt that Hanford had taken enough waste and Hanford is the largest current holder of spent nuclear fuel in inventory in tonnage, approximately 2,133 tons. Whether that satisfies the Senator from New Mexico, I do not know. Savannah River, SC, Senator Thurmond and Senator Hollings felt very strongly about the continued responsibility of the Savannah River facility to take additional waste, wastes coming in from Europe at this time, waste that is being vitrified. They have approximately 206 metric tons. At Oak Ridge, in Tennessee, Senator Frist and Senator Thompson have indicated their concern. They currently have 46 tons of spent nuclear fuel.”