On the recordJuly 31, 1996
Mr. President, what the Senator is saying is so illogical. We have established that the Federal Government has the duty to dispose of spent nuclear fuel, and the Senator is saying that that duty carries with it no responsibility to pay damages, no financial responsibility; that that somehow stays with the title. Mr. President, that is just not so. What the court said in the court of appeals' decision is that they are withholding the remedy until January 31, 1998, because the Federal Government would not have defaulted until that time. That is when the duty of the Federal Government to dispose of the waste ripens, January 31, 1998. We cannot come in here and say, ``Well, we're going to pass that duty on to the utilities because they are somehow at fault.'' Mr. President, that is just so clearly not the law. I believe that it is simply not an argument that bears any weight at all.
Source
govinfo.gov
