NUCLEAR WASTE REFORM

[GOODEN@VMS.OCOM.OKSTATE.EDU]

	Attached are comments from the "Citizen Energy Alert Network" on 
legislation for Nuclear Waste Reform.  This appears to be very important 
legislation.  I am bothered that I do not know more about this bill.  I 
have not seen the Senate's Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1996.  Does the bill 
adequately address the real health and safety needs of the people of the 
United States?  Does the bill spend our nation's limited resources wisely?  
I think that our nation's poor performance in providing appropriate methods 
of handling waste streams from our radiation industries has been very 
costly both in dollars and in helping to form negative, unjustified fears 
regarding radiation among our people.  Does this legislation get us on 
track?  If so, let's get behind it; if not, let's work to make it what it 
should be.  What are your thoughts?  


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	Americans are a House vote and presidential signature away from 
having a nuclear waste disposal program that meets the nation's needs.  The 
solution is the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1996, which passed the Senate 
63-37 on July 31.  House leadership could adopt the Senate-passed version 
(S.1936), thereby speeding the bill to the president's desk for approval.  

	S.1936 is the first step toward over-hauling the federal 
government's waste disposal program.  The bill:  

--	Reaffirms the federal government's responsibility to accept spent 
fuel from nuclear power plants.  

--	Establishes an integrated waste management system which will 
include storage of spent nuclear fuel at a federal interim storage facility 
beginning as early as November 1999.  

--	Provides adequate funding to continue studying the facilities, and 
develop a transportation system to move spent fuel from nuclear power 
plants to those facilities.  

	S. 1936 authorizes the Department of Energy to develop a simple, 
safe spent fuel management system with three components:  

--	Construction and operation of a federal interim storage facility at 
the Nevada Test Site -- unless DOE finds the Yucca Mountain site to be 
unsuitable, and the president and Congress are unable to name an alternate 
site.  

--	Construction and operation of a repository.  If the Energy 
Department does not find the Yucca Mountain site unsuitable by 1998, the 
agency must apply for construction authorization no later than Feb. 1, 
2002.  If the site is not licensable, DOE must recommend further action 
within six months to ensure safe disposal of spent fuel, including the need 
for new legislative authority.  

--	Development of a transportation system.  DOE must take steps to 
begin spent fuel transportation in 1999.  The bill provides emergency 
planning assistance to affected states, localities and Indian tribes.  

	The Clinton administration has vowed to veto the waste bill -- 
despite changes to the legislation that addressed White House objections.  


David Gooden, Ph.D., J.D. 
Director, Biomedical Physics 
Saint Francis Hospital 
Tulsa, OK  74136 
email:  gooden@vms.ocom.okstate.edu
Phone:  918-494-1444
FAX:  918-494-1452