[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2479 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2479

    To authorize a study by the National Academy of Sciences on the 
      migration of plutonium underground at the Nevada Test Site.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 16, 1997

  Mr. Ensign introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
  Committee on National Security, and in addition to the Committee on 
Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
   each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To authorize a study by the National Academy of Sciences on the 
      migration of plutonium underground at the Nevada Test Site.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) plutonium is a potentially deadly, cancer causing 
        element;
            (2) plutonium has a half-life of 24,000 years;
            (3) recent scientific studies have shown that plutonium has 
        migrated nearly a mile through ground layers at the Nevada Test 
        Site;
            (4) Congress is currently debating placing over 77,000 tons 
        of high-level radioactive waste at the Nevada Test Site;
            (5) the new revelation of contamination at the Nevada Test 
        Site must be addressed before storage can be considered; and
            (6) the National Academy of Sciences is a private, 
        nonprofit organization consisting of scholars engaged in 
        scientific and engineering research.

SEC. 2. STUDY.

    The Secretary of Energy shall enter into a contract with the 
National Academy of Sciences to study--
            (1) the extent to which and the manner in which plutonium 
        has migrated from each test location at the Nevada Test Site;
            (2) the extent to which plutonium may be expected to 
        migrate in the future; and
            (3) the potential for current and future human exposure and 
        possible health risks to communities.
The study should consider all future potential routes of exposure, such 
as use of contaminated groundwater as drinking water. The study should 
consider potential future trends in population growth over the next 
1,000 years in the vicinity of the Nevada Test Site. The results of 
such study shall be transmitted to the Congress not later than 24 
months after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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