Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, for 25 years, this country has not permitted the commercial reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. We have said that the reactor waste generated around this country at reactors shall not be reprocessed, for the very sound reason that the reprocessing of this reactor waste generates plutonium, and plutonium is the key ingredient in nuclear weapons. And if we are generating plutonium through reprocessing, that is going to threaten our efforts to stop the proliferation of weapons around the world and to keep the supply of plutonium away from rogue nations and dictators. Now, this bill very quietly reverses that 25-year policy. It says that we shall now have research and development spending on what they call advanced fuel recycling technology. That is reprocessing. That is taking spent reactor waste and reprocessing it, creating plutonium, which threatens our nonproliferation regime around the world. There was very little debate on this in the Committee on Science, and no consideration on the floor. The rule did not permit an amendment by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) that would have allowed a straight up-or-down vote. Mr. Chairman, this is not just an issue for our national energy policy; it affects our international relations as well. And there is no way, with so little debate and so little public notice and no hearings, that we should be approving this. Vote no.”