Alan Simpson: “I do richly commend my friend, Senator Murkowski. I have watched him doggedly work in this area. There are many who have…”

“I do richly commend my friend, Senator Murkowski. I have watched him doggedly work in this area. There are many who have done so much in this area over the years: Senator Johnston from Louisiana; I was involved with it as chairman of the Subcommittee on Nuclear Regulations; Senator Gary Hart, and back through the years. The problem with nuclear waste storage is a most serious and complex one. I cannot tell you how tired I am of the people on both sides who are extremists in the area; those who are the ``Hell, no, we won't glow'' group and the ``nobody's ever been killed'' group. Somewhere between those two groups is sanity. I think we are finally on the track of doing something sensible. The mere mention of nuclear waste sends shivers up the spine of many people. I discovered that when I came to the Senate and joined the Nuclear Regulatory Subcommittee. That is what happens when one utters, ``All right, I'll take an assignment no one else wants.'' I did that a couple of times, and I got Immigration and Nuclear Regulations and Veterans Affairs, so cursed with business three times in some ways. I have enjoyed those issues, but they are filled with emotion, fear, guilt and racism, all three of them. So here we have this entire issue that has been a continuing victim of gross misinformation, reprehensible scare tactics, particularly in the 17 years since Three Mile Island, and certainly people deserve to know more of exactly what we are dealing with.”