KF27 E5526 1982 COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan, Chairman JAMES H. SCHEUER, New York PHILIP R. SHARP, Indiana JAMES J. FLORIO, New Jersey ANTHONY TOBY MOFFETT, Connecticut JIM SANTINI, Nevada EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts DOUG WALGREN, Pennsylvania BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama W. J. "BILLY" TAUZIN, Louisiana RALPH M. HALL, Texas JAMES T. BROYHILL, North Carolina EDWARD R. MADIGAN, Illinois GARY A. LEE, New York WILLIAM E. DANNEMEYER, California THOMAS J. BLILEY, JR., Virginia Ahearne, John F., Commissioner, Nuclear Regulatory Commission......... Asselstine, James, Commissioner, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Brewer, Shelby, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, Department of Brown, Holmes, staff member, National Governors' Association. Christofferson, Juline, physical resources coordinator, Governor's office, Edwards, Hon. James B., Secretary, Department of Energy Faden, Michael, legislative counsel, Union of Concerned Scientists.. Gilinsky, Victor, Commissioner, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Holloway, Milton L., executive director, Texas Energy and Natural Re- Palladino, Hon. Nunzio J., Chairman, Nuclear Regulatory Commission.. Parsons, Renee, legislative representative, Friends of the Earth.. Raffety, Seymour, reactor engineer, Dairyland Power Cooperative.......... Santini, Hon. Jim, a Representative in Congress from the State of 222 Silverstrom, Leon, Assistant General Counsel, Department of Energy 229 412 Taylor, Ted, director, Policy Analysis Division, Texas Energy and Natural 333 Thurmond, Hon. Strom, a U.S. Senator from the State of South Carolina.. Material submitted for the record by-Continued Carolina Power & Light Co., material submitted by Sherwood H. Smith, Nuclear reactors with near term spent fuel storage requirements, Energy Department: Page 414 Letter from Secretary Edwards to Chairman Ottinger, June 15, 1982, 236 Letter from Secretary Edwards to Gov. William P. Clements of Letter from Robert C. Odle, Jr., Assistant Secretary for Congression- Responses to subcommittee questions and request for additional in- Nuclear Regulatory Commission, letter from Hon. Nunzio J. Palladino, 319 239 260 373 NUCLEAR WASTE DISPOSAL POLICY TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 1982 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY CONSERVATION And Power, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room 2123, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Richard L. Ottinger (chairman) presiding. Mr. OTTINGER. Good morning. This morning the Subcommittee on Energy Conservation and Power begins hearings on the issue of nuclear waste disposal, the first hearings we have had on this subject this year. However, for over a year, efforts have been underway to develop a consensus nuclear waste bill which would build upon the agreements in the waste bill which passed the House during the 96th Congress. Initially, this effort involved representatives of the majority and minority staff of three of the House committees of jurisdiction. Unfortunately, difficulties in incorporating an unlicensed test and evaluation facility into the schedule for a full-scale licensed repository, together with attempts to expand the scope of the bill to include changes in the licensing process and restrictions on the applicability of the National Environmental Policy Act and access to the process by citizens resulted in a breakdown of these negotiations causing the Committee on Science and Technology to proceed unilaterally. Although that committee considered a comprehensive bill containing provisions beyond the scope of the committee's jurisdiction, the Science and Technology Committee confined its markup to only those sections of the bill related to research and development activities. Negotiations to develop a consensus bill between the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and the Committee on Energy and Commerce continued. Last December, a draft proposal, representing an agreement on the part of Chairman Udall, Chairman Dingell, and myself, was circulated. After receiving comments from a number of interested parties, the draft was revised. Because the proposal did not include any provisions for Federal responsibility for the interim storage of spent fuels, the proposal was opposed by industry. Chairman Udall then decided to proceed to a markup in the absence of a consensus and, shortly thereafter, the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee reported an amended version of H.R. 3809. (1) Efforts to draft a compromise bill agreeable to the majority and minority members of this committee, as well as to the industry and the environmental community, continue. Recently an agreement on some of the general principles was reached between the ranking minority member of the full committee, Mr. Broyhill, the ranking minority member of the subcommittee, Mr. Moorhead, and myself. I am grateful for the time and effort both have expended in attempting to reach a compromise and I hope that during the balance of this week, the issues that remain and disagreements can be resolved. I am determined that we will act on a nuclear waste bill this year, and I hope it will be in a manner in which all the parties can reach agreement, so that it can be put through the House expeditiously, and go to conference with the Senate. I think that the waste that has been accumulating around the country represents an increasingly difficult problem, and the Congress has a responsibility to deal with that problem expeditiously, carefully, and thoroughly. I will just give you briefly some of the issues that, as I see it, are particularly difficult and remain outstanding, and I would hope that our witnesses would address those issues. The first difficult issue is the schedule to be pursued in selecting an initial repository and proceeding to the construction of the final repository. We are concerned that those dates not be so accelerated as to be unrealistic or to preclude thorough evaluation of potential sites. I am very much mindful of the fact that the Department of Energy was ready to proceed not long ago to put nuclear waste in salt domes in Lyons, Kans. They assured this committee, the Interior Committee in the Congress, that there were no problems, that the site had been thoroughly characterized and it was a safe and permanent site for waste disposal. Through the efforts of former Republican Representative from Kansas, Congressman Skubitz, the authorization to proceed was not granted, Shortly thereafter, it was found that the salt domes in Lyons, Kans., were in fact not secure, and that matters that were put in those salt domes would leach into the water supply. That gives us reason to be exceedingly careful and assured that whatever kind of characterization work is done, is done thoroughly and done before major permanent work is done on any site. The second major issue that we have to resolve is the question of the involvement of the National Environmental Policy Act in these deliberations at various stages. The first stage, of course, is the process of characterization, and in that process a good many changes to the landscape will probably be made, road systems, and so forth. It is proposed that shafts be dug, and there is the possibility that some nuclear waste will be put in those shafts on an experimental basis. It is very important that adequate information be made available at the earliest possible time to the States and to the citizens who are concerned, and the extent of that involvement, and what kind of findings have to be made is still at issue. With respect to the final repository, it is my desire, and I think Mr. Broyhill's, the industry's, and the departments, that we not have unnecessary duplication. Today we have reached a tentative |