Maria Cantwell: “So why doesn't the ``trust us'' answer work for us when it comes to nuclear waste--when it comes to trusting the…”

“So why doesn't the ``trust us'' answer work for us when it comes to nuclear waste--when it comes to trusting the Department of Energy? Washington State has had to fight and battle hard. By some estimates, we have already spent some $35 billion on Hanford cleanup-- without producing a single log of vitrified waste from those underground tanks that are leaking in my State. We will also spend another $50 billion, according to estimates, to finish the job, and we are banking on the development of new technologies that have never been used in projects of this magnitude. Meanwhile, we are spending an average of about $5.1 million per day on this effort. Since starting this project, we have had lots of stops and starts. In 1958, we tried converting our nuclear tank waste to ceramic forms. We tried again later in the 1980s, to turn the tank waste into grout. That plan didn't work, and it was abandoned. Then, in 1998, DOE tried to privatize the construction of the vitrification plant. That didn't work either. After a series of cost overruns, DOE fired the contractor and we moved on to the next phase. So we in Washington State know how hard this process can be. That is why we have a tri-party agreement with the Federal Government and our State agencies to make sure the Department of Energy lives up to its responsibilities. But these are complex problems.…”