We commend you for your attention to the problem of chartering a new course for addressing this important problem.

S. 3469 is intended to implement the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission that Secretary Chu appointed to review the nuclear waste program.

We believe the bill that Senator Bingaman has prepared represents a very useful starting point for an important discussion.

Thank you very much. Thank all 3 witnesses for excellent testimony.

Your dedication to public service, your thoughtful consideration of complex issues provides a superb model for public service.

Congress should require the standards for site screening and development criteria be in final form before any sites are considered.

I would again like to thank the BRC for their dedicated work in developing a path forward.

There's a need for a mechanism to ensure that the temporary storage facility does not take the place of a long term repository.

Regrettably, we were not as successful as the Blue Ribbon Commission was in reaching a unanimous bipartisan consensus.

We believe that steps towards implementation of near-term proposals that do not have to wait for comprehensive legislative action would be a clear and unmistakable signal that the Administration and Congress are willing to take the difficult yet necessary measures to put our nation's nuclear waste management program back on track and enable its success.

The understanding that the polluter pays the bill for the contamination it creates is properly embedded in S. 3469.