[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 35 (Friday, February 24, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E435-E436]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


          INTEGRATED SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL MANAGEMENT ACT OF 1995

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                         HON. THOMAS J. MANTON

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 24, 1995
  Mr. MANTON. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues, Mr. 
Upton and Mr. Towns, in cosponsoring H.R. 1020, the Integrated Spent 
Nuclear Fuel Management Act of 1995.
  The Department of Energy is responsible for receiving shipments of 
spent nuclear fuel from America's nuclear powerplants beginning in 
1998. They have received billions of dollars from America's electricity 
consumers to fund this program and were given clear direction from 
Congress in 1982 and 1987 to establish a Federal spent fuel management 
program.
  The Government has less than 3 years to fulfill its end of this 
agreement, yet the Department of Energy is still 15 years away from 
operation of a permanent repository for spent fuel. Even more 
disturbing, the Department is not even considering interim steps to 
manage this radioactive waste.
  Mr. Speaker, it is imperative that we begin consideration of H.R. 
1020 in order to ensure that the Department of Energy is ready to 
accept spent nuclear fuel in 1998, and that it is prepared to do so in 
a manner that places the public health and safety above all other 
concerns.
  In New York alone, electricity consumers have paid $584 million into 
the Nuclear Waste Fund. Consolidated Edison customers have paid more 
than $96 million, New York Power Authority customers nearly $220 
million, Niagara Mohawk customers $162 million, and Rochester Gas & 
Electric customers $105 million.
  If a federally centralized management facility is not operational by 
1998, 26 nuclear power plants will be forced to build additional waste 
storage or shut down prematurely. One of those is operated by Niagara 
Mohawk Power Co. which is one of six nuclear power units that generates 
25 percent of the electricity used in New York. Rochester gas will also 
need additional storage for spent fuel at their nuclear units in 1999 
and Electric and New York Power Authority plants in the year 2000.
  It is clear that New York can no longer wait for the Energy 
Department to voluntarily decide to fulfill its nuclear waste 
obligations. This bill would force the Energy Department to develop an 
integrated spent nuclear fuel management system, including an interim 
storage facility that the Federal Government can site and build by 
1998. The Department of Energy 
[[Page E436]] already has a conceptual design for such a facility which 
they could site on Federal Government property in Nevada.
  I realize that the schedule proposed in this bill is ambitious, but 
we must consider the necessary adjustments to this program now so that 
the Federal Government can meet its obligations to electricity 
customers nationwide.
  Mr. Speaker, time is running out for the Federal Government to 
fulfill its duty to consumers and the capacity to store spent nuclear 
fuel at nuclear power plants is quickly diminishing. Electricity 
customers will soon be confronted with spending millions of dollars in 
addition to their monthly payments to the Federal Nuclear Waste Fund.
  We have received a number of comments on this legislation from 
Governors, State attorneys general, State public service commissioners 
as well as others, and we have attempted to incorporate these comments 
into H.R. 1020 in order to develop an integrated plan that will get 
this program on track.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to tell you that there is widespread 
support for this legislation. I would like to particularly site the 
efforts of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners 
[NARUC], which has spent the last few years examining this nuclear 
waste problem. I commend their efforts in sponsoring dialogue with 
affected parties to unearth and examine the different options. There 
have been a series of resolutions past by NARUC in the past few years 
which underscore the need for the four essential components of the 
integrated spent fuel management system.
  Mr. Speaker, Congress must chart a new course for the Nation's spent 
fuel management program. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting 
the Integrated Spent Nuclear Fuel Management Act of 1995.


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