Even now without passing our bill, correct?

I would say that when the Senate functions, which it occasionally does, it does so because of collegiality such as that exists between the Senator from California and me.

It is the politicians who are keeping Yucca Mountain shut, and it is the politicians who are not opening new consolidated repositories.

Senator Alexander. Is the next step after the environmental impact statement restarting the hearings before the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board?

I think as you can tell, we sometimes come at a problem from different directions, but we often end up pulling the wagon in the same direction.

It might be a good time to do a review about whether they are unnecessary obstacles in your regulations...

Well, my time is up, but is there anything more that you could say to the three of us about, are you prepared if we pass the pilot program to do the Commission's part to implement it as rapidly as you could in a safe and reliable way?

There will be as many rounds as you would like to have.

A properly maintained reactor who meets the technical requirements should be able to operate for 80 years instead of 60 years.

Yes. How many deaths have we ever had as a result of the operation of a Navy reactor?

The obstacles here are the United States Congress and the President of the United States. That is us.

If we were--if Senator Feinstein, and I, and Senator Murkowski were to include in the energy and water appropriation bill again this year a pilot program for consent-based storage of nuclear waste, are you prepared to act quickly if this…

I have one last question. I used to be on another committee, which was the Energy and Public Works Committee.

I want to begin by thanking you and the Department for something.

This committee has a long reputation for bipartisan commitment to ensuring that our country is prepared for any and all threats.

Well, it is disappointing to me and hard to go back to the people whose taxes we raised, basically, and say we took your money but we are just going to put it on the shelf for a while.

An important example of the administration's failure to set priorities is in my home State of Tennessee: the lack of any funds in the president's budget request to restart replacement of Chickamauga Lock.

It is a treat to work with somebody who is capable of making a decision, expressing herself well, and easy to work with.

First, all of us are urging you to do things you are not doing. Let me thank you for something you are doing.

I look forward to our getting our nuclear waste bill done that we have worked for 4 years now.

Governing is about setting priorities, and unfortunately, the president's budget request for these agencies shows a failure to do so.

Thank you, Senator Feinstein.

We need new repositories.

Senator Feinstein and I have been pretty aggressive the last 2 or 3 years on that.

It is a problem that I don't expect you to solve today, but it is one I am going to work with you to solve.