Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chair, I rise today as the only Ph.D. physicist in the U.S. Congress. During my career, I have designed and led the construction of giant particle accelerators and other nuclear equipment, led high-risk and successful R&D programs, and designed equipment using classified neutron transport codes. Because of its importance to national security and nuclear nonproliferation, I have studied at length the question of minimizing the use of highly enriched uranium in naval propulsion reactors. I received numerous individual and highly technical classified briefings, examined reactor core specifications, and visited the naval nuclear fuel fabrication facility in Virginia. I believe that continuing the research supported by this amendment is worth pursuing for the reasons given by my colleague. Several factors must be dealt with in determining the practicality of utilizing LEU in naval propulsion reactors, including the total energy and power deliverable by the core, the volume of the reactor, the enrichment level of the fuel, reactivity limits, and the heat transfer area required for a given power level. It is complicated, but a 2016 report by the JASON scientific advisory board concluded that using an optimized LEU design instead of the existing HEU design could result in a significantly more compact core.…”