Political Quotes

“I rise in support of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1997 introduced today by my good friends Senator Craig and Senator Murkowski, the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee. This important bill will make substantial, necessary and meaningful progress in our Nation's effort to deal with the problem of radioactive nuclear waste. The bill is similar to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1996 which passed the Senate by a 2-to-1 ratio last year. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1997, which I am proud to cosponsor, will establish an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at the Nevada test site. The interim storage site will address our near-term problem of safely storing spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste while the characterization, permitting and construction of the permanent repository at Yucca Mountain proceeds. My State of Idaho currently stores a wide variety of Department of Energy, Navy and commercial reactor spent nuclear fuel at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. This spent nuclear fuel is stored in temporary facilities that are reaching the end of their design life. This phenomenon is happening across the country as temporary storage facilities are used beyond their design life because our Nation has not developed a comprehensive policy of dealing with nuclear waste.”