The reason I am interested in this is because I support nuclear power.

Here are the problems.

I want to thank you very much. You have been very patient.

I am very interested in that. I have another hat and that is the Oversight of Government Management in the Federal Work Force.

But the fact of the matter is that if the public feels that these are fail-safe, that we have a responsible way of dealing with nuclear waste, you will be able to get the support that we need to move in that direction.

I would be interested in working with the GAO and maybe getting input from you folks is: What is the standard is that we use to make sure that these things that have been long standing are taken care of?

The No. 1 issue for the NRC is safety. Period. There is no greater issue.

The question I have is this. Why do the Europeans do it?

Well, there is the other facility that Senator Carper mentioned where they missed a safety culture.

But you are doing it at Davis-Besse. You are going to go in there for the next 5 years.

I can tell you that we had a dickens of a time going to the next BRAC recommendation and there were only 34 of us in the Senate that voted for it when it first came up a couple of years ago.

We look forward to working with you on this legislation.