William Bryan: “That is the 1960's into the early 1970's. We heard a lot about the so-called WIPP site, waste isolation pilot project.…”

“That is the 1960's into the early 1970's. We heard a lot about the so-called WIPP site, waste isolation pilot project. Sometime in the early 1970's, the former Governor of New Mexico invited the Atomic Energy Commission to study sites in New Mexico for a siting, locating of transuranic nuclear waste. This was at a time when the processing was still considered viable. So the interest was in handling a destination for transuranic waste, and the belief was that a salt dome formation had geologic advantages and we should place the storage there. Over the years, that facility has been much troubled in terms of some of the scientific and technical concerns. My colleagues from that State, one a Republican and one a Democrat, have called to the attention of this body fairly recently their concerns about the levels of radiation, because it would be New Mexicans who would be affected. They did as any colleague worthy of his or her salt would do. They have made, I think, some very persuasive arguments. By and large, the body has yielded to their concerns about those standards.”