[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 16143]
[From the U.S. 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, this is my third time on the floor to talk 
about high-level nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain. I started talking 
about Hanford, which is in Washington State, comparing it to the Yucca 
facility. In Hanford, 53 million gallons of nuclear waste; zero at 
Yucca. Nuclear waste is stored 10 feet underground in Hanford; waste 
will be stored 1,000 feet underground in Yucca. Waste 1,000 feet from 
the water table at Yucca; 250 feet from the water table in Hanford.
  At Yucca the nuclear waste will be 100 miles from the nearest river. 
At Hanford, it's 1 mile from the nearest river. So what are the 
Senators' positions on Yucca Mountain in Washington State and Oregon, 
knowing that we have 53 million gallons of high-level nuclear waste 1 
mile from the Columbia River?
  Senator Cantwell is not supportive of Yucca Mountain. Senator Murray 
is supportive, at least in her public statements. Senator Wyden is not 
supportive. And Senator Merkley is silent. They should not be silent.
  A couple of weeks ago I then moved to my home State of Illinois and 
the decommissioned Zion nuclear power plant that still has high-level 
nuclear waste on site. Again, the same statistics for Yucca are there 
in a desert away from a river.
  Zion is on Lake Michigan. Zion has 65 casks containing 1,135 metric 
tons of nuclear waste, waste stored above ground 5 feet above the water 
table, 1,300 feet from Lake Michigan. And Wisconsin has two nuclear 
power plants also on Lake Michigan. So what do the senators from the 
two States say?
  Well, Senator Durbin is supportive of Yucca Mountain. Senator Kirk is 
supportive of Yucca Mountain. Senator Kohl is supportive of Yucca 
Mountain. Senator Johnson is still silent on Yucca Mountain. I imagine 
we'll know soon.
  Now we move to Georgia and South Carolina. Look at the difference 
here. Savannah River has 6,300 canisters of nuclear waste on-site. The 
waste is stored right below the ground. It is 0 to 160 feet above the 
water table, and it's right next to the Savannah River.
  Again, compare that to Yucca Mountain--no nuclear waste. Waste would 
be stored 1,000 feet underground, 1,000 feet above the water table, and 
100 miles from the Colorado River.
  So where are these senators from Georgia and South Carolina? Well, 
Senator Isakson says ``We need to retain Yucca Mountain as our Nation's 
high-level waste repository.'' So he supports.
  Senator Chambliss says, ``We have long advocated that the Department 
of Energy immediately halt all actions to dismantle operations at Yucca 
Mountain.'' He supports.
  Senator Graham: ``No one should be required to pay for an empty hole 
in the Nevada desert.''
  ``The decision by the Obama administration to close Yucca Mountain 
was ill-advised and leaves our Nation without a disposal plan for spent 
nuclear fuel or Cold War waste.'' That's what Hanford is, Cold War 
nuclear waste from our weapons sector.
  What does Senator DeMint say? ``Without Yucca Mountain, America will 
not have a safe and secure place to permanently store nuclear waste and 
instead waste will pile up at existing reactors.''
  We will continue, and I will continue to come down on the floor and 
go through the Nation highlighting high-level nuclear waste all over 
this country when the Federal law under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 
1982 says we should have one site, and the law says that site is Yucca 
Mountain.
  And so as we continue to go through the States, hopefully some 
Senators will get off the dime and state their positions, culminating 
with 60 Senators in support as we move this forward, this Nation 
forward, to a more secure location for high-level nuclear waste away 
from lakes, away from rivers, away from the groundwater tables.
  There's no safer place on the planet than underneath the mountain in 
a desert, and that place is Yucca Mountain.

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