[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 191 (Tuesday, December 13, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H8736-H8737]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             YUCCA MOUNTAIN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Shimkus) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, at the end of last week, I was able to take 
to the floor with some of my colleagues to talk about high-level 
nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain. Part of that time, I wanted to make 
sure, as I have each week, to highlight certain locations around this 
country where high-level nuclear waste is stored. Because of time 
constraints, I wasn't able to do that, so I take to the floor this 
morning to highlight a nuclear power plant in Florida called Turkey 
Point.
  And the way I do this, Mr. Speaker, is I have this poster in front of 
me, and I compare the location of high-level nuclear waste at Turkey 
Point to the defined-by-law location for a single repository in this 
country, Yucca Mountain.
  So look at what we have here. At Yucca Mountain, we have currently no 
nuclear waste on site. At Turkey Point, there's is 1,074 metric tons of 
spent fuel on site. That's quite a lot of fuel. If we had waste stored 
at Yucca Mountain, the waste would be stored 1,000 feet underground--
Yucca Mountain is a mountain. At Turkey Point, waste is stored above 
ground in pools. Now why is that an important point to consider? The 
nuclear catastrophe in Japan, the Fukushima Daiichi plant, part of the 
major disaster was because of high-level nuclear waste stored in pools. 
The earthquake occurred and either the water that was there boiled out 
or there were cracks in the containment valve and it spilled out, and 
then the nuclear waste heated up, and hence you have a very dangerous 
situation still in Japan.
  At Yucca Mountain, the waste would be stored 1,000 feet above the 
water table. But here, at Turkey Point, which is in Florida, the waste 
is on Biscayne Bay at sea level. So it is at sea level, not in a 
mountain in a desert.
  What we've done also is look at if you are at Yucca Mountain how far 
are you away from really the largest body of water, which would be the 
Colorado River? Yucca Mountain is 100 miles from the Colorado River. 
Turkey Point and the nuclear waste stored there is 10 miles from the 
Everglades--10 miles from the Everglades.
  So we passed--I wasn't a Member of this Chamber at this time--a 
Federal law called the Nuclear Waste Policy Act in 1982. When we passed 
that law, we defined Yucca Mountain as the national repository--a 
single repository for not just nuclear waste from our nuclear power 
fleet, but also the nuclear waste from our Department of Energy 
locations from around the country.
  Obviously, we are very close, but this administration, along with the 
NRC Commissioner, has delayed, postponed, and tried to stop any 
movement on Yucca Mountain. And that's why I take the floor. As the 
subcommittee chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee, part 
of my jurisdiction is high-level nuclear waste, and that's why I come 
to the floor weekly to address this issue.
  Now, this is very timely this week, as Chairman Jaczko and the NRC 
Commissioners are up here before our Oversight and Government Reform 
Committee. Chairman Jaczko, in an article dated September 7, said, ``I 
welcome debate, I welcome discussion, I welcome criticism.'' But a 
letter sent to the Chief of Staff of the White House, Mr. Bill Daley, 
by the other four Commissioners, bipartisan--two Democrats, two 
Republicans, three appointed by the President--says this about Chairman 
Jaczko: He's intimidated and bullied senior career staff to the degree 
that he has created a high level of fear and anxiety resulting in a 
chilled work environment. They also say he ordered staff to withhold or 
modify policy information and recommendations intended for transmission 
to the Commission. He has also ignored the will of the majority of the 
Commission, contrary to the statutory functions of the Commission. And 
he has attempted to intimidate the Advisory Committee on Reactor 
Safeguards.
  This is part of the problem of our not having a national policy to 
move high-level nuclear waste to a centralized location in a desert 
underneath a mountain, Yucca Mountain. We have Senators who have voted 
for that in this area. The two senators from Florida, Tennessee, 
Mississippi, and Alabama all support it.


[[Page H8737]]


                                                     United States


                                Nuclear Regulatory Commission,

                                 Washington, DC, October 13, 2011.
     Hon. William L. Daley,
     Chief of Staff, The White House, Washington, DC.
       Dear Chief of Staff Daley: As individual members of an 
     independent regulatory commission, we all took oaths to 
     execute this agency's nuclear regulatory mission and to 
     uphold the institution's values, including its Principles of 
     Good Regulation. Our obligation is not only to the agency and 
     its staff, but also to the American people. It is from that 
     foundation that we write to express our grave concerns 
     regarding the leadership and management practices exercised 
     by Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Gregory 
     Jaczko. We believe that his actions and behavior are causing 
     serious damage to this institution and are creating a chilled 
     work environment at the NRC. We are concerned that this will 
     adversely affect the NRC's essential mission to protect the 
     health, safety and security of the American people.
       In a long series of very troubling actions taken by 
     Chairman Jaczko, he has undermined the ability of the 
     Commission to function as prescribed by law and decades of 
     successful practice. Since this current Commission was formed 
     some 18 months ago, after the President nominated and the 
     Senate confirmed the three newest members, we have observed 
     that Chairman Jaczko has:
       Intimidated and bullied senior career staff to the degree 
     that he has created a high level of fear and anxiety 
     resulting in a chilled work environment;
       Ordered staff to withhold or modify policy information and 
     recommendations intended for transmission to the Commission;
       Attempted to intimidate the Advisory Committee on Reactor 
     Safeguards, a legislatively-chartered independent group of 
     technical advisors, to prevent it from reviewing certain 
     aspects of NRC's analysis of the Fukushima accident;
       lnored the will of the majority of the Commission; contrary 
     to the statutory functions of the Commission; and
       Interacted with us, his fellow Commissioners, with such 
     intemperance and disrespect that the Commission no longer 
     functions as effectively as it should.
       Recently, on October 5, 2011, Chairman Jaczko appeared as 
     an invited guest at a periodic meeting of the agency's 
     Executive Director for Operations and other senior career 
     executives. According to multiple reports, his comments 
     reflected contempt for the Commission itself and open disdain 
     for the Internal Commission Procedures, a document that 
     embodies governing principles from the NRC's organic 
     legislation--the Energy Reorganization of 1974 and the 
     Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1980. These procedures guide the 
     conduct of the work of the Commission.
       Over the last 18 months, we have shown Chairman Jaczko 
     considerable deference. Moreover, for the sake of the agency, 
     its staff, and public confidence, we have strived to avoid 
     public displays of disharmony. Unfortunately, our efforts 
     have been received only as encouragement for further 
     transgressions.
       We are committed to conduct the work of this agency to the 
     best of our ability and despite the items highlighted above 
     and numerous other troubling actions taken by Chairman 
     Jaczko, we have carried out the work before us and will 
     continue to do so. However, Chairman Jaczko's behavior and 
     management practices have become increasingly problematic and 
     erratic. We believe his conduct as Chairman is inconsistent 
     with the NRC's organizational values and impairs the 
     effective execution of the agency's mission.
       We provided Chairman Jaczko our concerns in the attached 
     memorandum.
           Sincerely,
     Commissioner Kristine L. Svinicki.
     Commissioner William D. Magwood, IV.
     Commissioner George Apostolakis.
     Commissioner William C. Ostendorff.
                                  ____

                                                     United States


                                Nuclear Regulatory Commission,

                                 Washington, DC, October 13, 2011.
     Memorandum to: Chairman Jaczko.
     From Commissioner Svinicki, Commissioner Apostolakis, 
         Commissioner Magwood, Commissioner Ostendorff.
       As you know, many of us have, on occasion, taken issue with 
     your interpretation of the relative role of the Chairman and 
     the Commission, the role of the Chairman and the EDO, and 
     your approach to working with the Commission to lead this 
     agency. Over the past year, these issues, linked with your 
     troubling personal approach to interacting with us and the 
     senior staff, have intensified. This is a matter of serious 
     concern. We have responsibilities relating to the Commission 
     and the NRC staff, and we are accountable to Congress and the 
     American people. It is from this foundation that we write to 
     express our grave concern that your leadership and management 
     practices are causing serious damage to this institution.
       First, with respect to your relationship with the 
     Commission, it is not uncommon to have some degree of tension 
     between a Chairman and the members of an independent 
     regulatory commission. But in the present case, your 
     intemperate and disrespectful behavior and conduct towards 
     fellow Commission members is completely unacceptable. A few 
     recent examples include your outburst of temper demonstrated 
     by storming out of an agenda planning meeting while a 
     colleague was speaking, yelling at fellow commissioners on 
     the phone, and termination of an NRC staff detailee's 
     assignment to a Commission office without any advance 
     discussion with the affected Commissioner. Although your 
     relationship with Commissioner colleagues has been a serious 
     problem for some time, it has gotten worse in recent months.
       Second, your intimidation and bullying of the NRC staff to 
     do things your way has resulted in a work environment with a 
     chilling effect. While you are a champion of openness in 
     Commission deliberations, you have taken steps to discourage 
     open communication between the staff and the Commission. 
     There are a number of recent examples where you or your 
     office directed the staff to withhold certain views from the 
     Commission or strongly criticized the staffs views. Two 
     recent examples include your direction to the EDO to withdraw 
     the SECY paper on the Fukushima Near Term Task Force Report 
     as well as your strong, ill-tempered criticism of the senior 
     staffs recommendations in the post-Fukushima ``21 day'' 
     report. While you have communicated to us that your primary 
     motivation in seeking to remove the EDO is based on his lack 
     of communications with you, due diligence with numerous 
     senior staff indicates that your motivation stems from 
     instances where the EDO did not follow your view on what to 
     present to the Commission as the staff's policy position. 
     This impairs the ability of the Commission to function 
     effectively; furthermore, your view of the role of the EDO is 
     fundamentally contrary to that of the Commission and the way 
     the NRC has functioned over the years.
       Third, we are shocked to have received numerous reports 
     from NRC senior staff about your remarks at the October 5 
     Senior Leadership Meeting. Your comments have been 
     interpreted by those present not only to reflect your disdain 
     for the Internal Commission Procedures, but also your 
     contempt for the Commission. Your remarks to the NRC senior 
     staff undermine the entire Commission. This conduct is of 
     grave concern to us and is absolutely unacceptable.
       In response to this persistent situation, we have decided 
     to transmit the attached letter to the White House Chief of 
     Staff to notify him of our serious concerns. We recognize 
     that this is an extraordinary step, but do not believe that 
     you have left us with viable alternatives.

                          ____________________