Political Quotes

“What is a hydronuclear experiment? I am quoting: Nuclear materials, either plutonium or uranium are configured with high explosives in a geometry very similar to a nuclear explosion. The amount of material and/or the geometry are chosen so that no-- I underline or underscore ``no.'' nuclear chain reaction will occur when the explosion is detonated. Nuclear reactions occur and radiation is emitted in tiny quantities. By historic convention, in the United States the yield of an experiment is less than 4 pounds of TNT equivalent. This is a millionth of a kiloton. This is 4 pounds. The vast majority of informed experts that have studied the issue of the safety and reliability of nuclear weapons, including the JASON group--including the JASON group--who have studied the issue of the safety and reliability of nuclear weapons, recognize the importance of doing the experiments we are talking about today. The only substantial debate is over the value or the size or the yield of these various experiments. That debate is going on in the Government now. But remember, we have agreed to clearly indicate, in this amendment, that it would be no more than 4 pounds. So that is what the bill seeks to support. That is why we need hydronuclear experiments. And that is why we should support this bill and defeat the Exon amendment. This is not, I repeat, a fight over nuclear testing. We should not let this become a fight over nuclear testing.”