[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 17, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H11-H12]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1910
                   H-CANYON IS A VITAL NATIONAL ASSET

  (Mr. WILSON of South Carolina asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, H-Canyon Chemical 
Separations Facility at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, South 
Carolina, which is valued at nearly $1 billion, is the only shielded 
nuclear chemical separations plant still in operation in the United 
States. During its operating life, H-Canyon facility routinely 
recovered uranium-235 and neptunium-237 spent fuel and has aided 
America in

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honoring its international agreement by returning these fuels for the 
purposes of nuclear nonproliferation and safeguarding.
  Today, H-Canyon and its HB-Line operations are supporting the DOE 
Highly Enriched Uranium Blend-Down program and Plutonium Disposition 
program. By blending down highly enriched uranium and isolating 
plutonium from surrounding corrosive elements, H-Canyon ensures our 
country's national security, while simultaneously providing fuel which 
is currently being purchased by the Tennessee Valley Authority to 
empower commercial nuclear reactors.
  As difficult funding decisions are made in this Congress, I urge my 
colleagues to support the mission of H-Canyon. It is a vital national 
asset that has served our country since victory in the Cold War and 
will continue to protect and serve Americans both home and abroad for 
decades.
  In conclusion, God bless our troops, and we will never forget 
September the 11th in the global war on terrorism.

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