Sheldon Whitehouse: “First, let me thank Chairman Alexander for his support and assistance in getting us to this point. He has also, until I…”

“First, let me thank Chairman Alexander for his support and assistance in getting us to this point. He has also, until I rotated off the HELP Committee and onto the Finance Committee, been my chairman on the HELP Committee. Both in his work as the appropriations subcommittee chair here managing this bill, I thank him, and for all of his leadership on the HELP Committee when I was a member of that committee, I thank him. As the Senate looks at this measure, I want to try to explain it in as simple terms as possible because I think this is a complete slam- dunk, win-win amendment. A next generation of nuclear power capability is being developed, and a great deal of the design of that next- generation nuclear capability is being done here in the United States. For a variety of reasons, those American designs are now moving to approval and construction in other countries, particularly including China. I don't think it is a good idea for us to be designing new technologies but have them deployed in other countries. We are trying to address some of the hiccups that prevent this from going forward in the United States. Our U.S. Navy uses nuclear fuel all the time. I think it is widely known that our aircraft carriers and submarines operate with nuclear engines. They do so very safely. They do so with the expert support of our U.S. Navy. Then, at the end of the day, they generate spent fuel that gets taken off of the aircraft carrier or the submarine when the engine is refueled.…”