David Thomas: “this is an issue we have talked about for a good long time. Some of the things I have heard today are quite different…”

“this is an issue we have talked about for a good long time. Some of the things I have heard today are quite different than what we have talked about before. Nevertheless, everyone is entitled to their own views. I think, as has been mentioned, we ought to remind ourselves what the purpose of this particular vote is about. It is to make it possible for the Secretary to apply for a license to construct a site at Yucca Mountain. If this fails, then ever since the 1980s, 24 years of work, and $4 billion worth of expenditures will be halted and nothing more will happen. This is not the final issue to be talked about. This is not the issue of transportation. This is the issue of whether or not to move forward and license the site, which will then provide the opportunity and the necessity of moving on to other issues, such as defining the transportation routes and dealing with the safety of transportation. I think we ought to keep in mind what we are doing here and that is to authorize them to move forward in licensing the site. The site, of course, is one of the most important issues before us. It has been said a number of times that there are 131 different sites where waste is stored. Not all of those sites will disappear, of course, but many of them will. Those that have been Government used, that are not continuing to be used, will be gone. We will have fewer sites. I do not hear anyone talking about solving the problem.”