Dianne Feinstein

May I ask the Senator--because I thought Democrats had an hour at this time, I agreed to yield to Senator Baldwin. Senator McCain, do you know how long you will be? Mr. McCAIN. About 30 minutes.

The Feinstein-Collins bill is intended to eliminate such stalemates.

I would also like to acknowledge a few who are in the audience today, including representatives from Johnson & Johnson, the maker of brands including Neutrogena, Aveeno, and Johnson's baby products.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you so much for scheduling this hearing. It is much appreciated.

I hope that your committee will take the steps to move this bill forward.

Well, I think, and somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you store them for 5 to 7 years, and then they should be removed from the spent fuel pool, and they should be put in dry casks, hopefully transportation dry casks, so that…

I plead with the industry to help us get a permanent waste facility.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

We had Hamilton in. We sat there with the chairs of the Authorizing Committee.

We do not agree on nuclear power, as you know.

I applaud Southern, because they are looking at the market as a whole, and they want to preserve the nuclear industry.

Is it prudent, with all of the stresses on plant and materials----

It's interesting because we have no nuclear waste policy in this country.

To me, until you've got a methodology to properly harbor this waste for the millennium, it's ridiculous to talk about any of this.

I think we're all agreed it should be consent-based. I mean, the problem with Yucca is, nobody in Nevada wants to move ahead with it.

I believe we have 16 new nuclear plants, so far, that have shut down, and another 7 coming in the next few years.

Because that's important. That's where it all happens.

I really hope that Secretary Moniz will not mind this.

I sit here and I listen to this, and it's like I'm in a fairy tale.

The future of nuclear power, I believe, in this country depends on a solution to the waste problem.

If we can't properly store the waste, we shouldn't build the reactors.

Unfortunately, the political impasse surrounding Yucca has stalled progress on interim storage.

Could you just talk a little bit about fusion energy?

Vermont Yankee was closed because of popular opposition.

I think it's very important that we learn the lessons, not only of the past--1980s--but actually some also more recent events.