[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 10, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S5467]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   WEST VALLEY DEMONSTRATION PROJECT

 Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I rise to note that May 28 was a 
significant day in West Valley, NY, and in the field of nuclear waste 
disposal. In 1982 we authorized the West Valley demonstration project, 
in which we would learn to take liquid nuclear waste and mix it with 
glass. The process is called vitrification, and yields ten foot high 
glass logs that can be stored safely. After 14 years of preparation, 
research, and testing, vitrification began last July. On May 28th the 
100th glass log was produced.
  The success of the vitrification process developed at West Valley and 
at the Savannah River in Georgia led the Department of Energy to select 
it as the preferred method of disposal for such wastes. This is an 
accomplishment that the many hundreds of people in western New York who 
worked on the project can be most proud of.
  They have another 110 logs to go at West Valley, but it is clear that 
the technology works. It can and will be replicated at other sites 
around the country, helping to solve one of our most vexing and serious 
waste disposal problems. Moreover, vitrification can be used to store 
other types of hazardous waste without fear of leaking. I congratulate 
all those at Westinghouse and the many agencies involved with the West 
Valley project for achieving this milestone.

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