S7632 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE May 26, 1995

A payment that cannot be linked to

supporting documentation is an unauthorized payment. It may not be legitimate.

Without documentation, we do not

know how the money was used.

That is my concern, Mr. President.

Mr. President, Pentagon bureaucrats

have an unblemished record of mismanaging the peoples’ money.

Now, is it smart to give a bureaucratic institution like the Pentagon

that cannot control and account for

the use of public money more public

money—as some of my colleagues propose?

DOD should not get any extra money

until it cleans up the books.

More money is not the answer. Better management is.

f∑

A TRIBUTE TO COMMAND SGT.

MAJ. WILLIAM H. ACEBES ON

HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE

ARMY

∑ Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, today I

want to congratulate Command Sgt.

Maj. William H. Acebes on the occasion

of his retirement from the U.S. Army.

Command Sergeant Major Acebes

began his Army career 30 years ago

when he completed basic training at

Fort Polk, LA. I am pleased to note

that he completed his advanced individual training in my home State of

Georgia, at Fort Gordon. Since then,

he has served in virtually every noncommissioned officer leadership position.

Overseas, Command Sergeant Major

Acebes has served numerous tours of

duty with United States Forces in both

Europe and Asia. In Germany he was

assigned to the Berlin Brigade and

later, to the 1st Battalion, 10th Special

Forces Group (Forward) at Bad Toelz.

During the Vietnam war, he served

with the 173rd Airborne Brigade and

was an advisor with the United States

Army Military Assistance Command.

His most recent overseas assignment

was in South Korea, where he was the

command sergeant major of the 2nd Infantry Division.

Bill Acebes’ stateside assignments

have included serving as the first sergeant of Headquarters Company and

the command sergeant major of the 1st

Battalion (Ranger), 75th Ranger Regiment. Also, he served as the battalion

command sergeant major for the 1st

Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 2d

Brigade, 24th Infantry Division, at Fort

Stewart, Georgia. Since 1992, he has

served as the U.S. Army Infantry Center Command Sergeant Major at Fort

Benning, GA.

During his 30-year Army career, Bill

Acebes has received numerous awards

and decorations in recognition of his

exemplary service to the United

States. These awards and decorations

include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze

Star, the Meritorious Service Medal,

the Army Commendation Medal, the

Army Achievement Medal, and the

Vietnam Cross of Gallantry.

I know of no soldier who sought more

tough, demanding assignments than

Bill Acebes. I also know of no soldier

who has spent more time with the infantry—with infantry soldiers and families, than Bill Acebes. Whenever our

country called, over a 30-year period,

Command Sergeant Major Acebes answered. His leadership and talents will

be missed.

Mr. President, I ask our colleagues to

join me in thanking Command Sergeant Major William H. Acebes for his

distinguished service to the Army and

people of the United States.

f∑

COMMERCIAL SPENT NUCLEAR

FUEL STORAGE

∑ Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, I

would like to commend the Senator

from Alaska [Mr. MURKOWSKI] for the

statement yesterday on the need to develop a timely solution for the management of spent nuclear fuel from the

Nation’s 109 commercial nuclear power

plants.

As the new chairman of the Energy

Committee, Senator MURKOWSKI has already assumed a leading role in examining America’s policy on high-level

radioactive waste management and I

appreciate the chairman’s ongoing

commitment to change that policy to

ensure that we continue to make

progress in a program so vital to the

national interest.

Mr. President, the United States has

struggled to fashion a workable policy

on high-level radioactive waste disposal since the Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan

signed amendments to that act to direct the Department of Energy to

study Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a

likely repository site. A cadre of worldclass scientists have been conducting

first-of-a-kind experiments at Yucca

Mountain to determine if the site is

suitable for the ultimate disposition of

spent nuclear fuel from civilian nuclear reactors a well as defense highlevel radioactive waste.

Electric consumers have committed

$11 billion since 1983 to finance these

studies, a total that includes $563 million collected from consumers of nuclear electricity generated in South

Carolina. Unfortunately, the year 2010

is the earliest possible date that a repository might be ready to accept

spent fuel.

In the meantime, nuclear power

plants across the country are running

out of capacity to store spent fuel. By

1998, 26 plants will have exhausted existing capacity to store spent fuel, including the Oconee and Robinson

plants in South Carolina.

In addition to designating Yucca

Mountain, the Nuclear Waste Policy

Act made the Federal Government responsible for taking title to spent nuclear fuel beginning in 1998.

In order to meet its obligations,

therefore, the Federal Government

must now develop a temporary storage

facility for spent fuel from the Nation’s

nuclear power plants. In just 3 years

DOE is scheduled to assume responsibility for the spent nuclear fuel from

commercial nuclear power plants. It

must begin planning now to build and

operate a facility to fulfill that obligation.

Legislation introduced in both the

Senate and House would develop an integrated approach to spent fuel management, including the construction

and operation of a single Federal facility to store spent fuel until a permanent solution is available. Legislation

in both Chambers identifies the sensible location for such a storage facility—the Nevada test site.

This Federal facility is the most logical location for such an interim site.

It borders Yucca Mountain, a remote,

unpopulated, and arid location in the

Nevada Desert. Moreover, the site is on

land that has been dedicated to underground nuclear testing for more than

40 years, and thus appropriately dedicated to a project like this one.

Building a central storage facility at

the Nevada test site does not prejudge

the question of whether Yucca Mountain is suitable, but there are tremendous advantages to locating it there.

Among the most appealing is ease of

transportation of the spent fuel from

storage facility to repository.

Building a central storage facility

that is operating by 1998 and a repository by 2010 will save electric consumers $5 billion over the life cycle of the

waste management program. These

cost savings will be further enhanced,

primarily through ease of transportation, if the storage facility is located

near the repository site.

Mr. President, the time has come to

address the problems that have plagued

the Department of Energy’s nuclear

waste management program. We can

take the first step this year by authorizing and using funds already contributed by electricity consumers to develop a central storage facility in Nevada.

∑

DESECRATION OF THE U.S. FLAG

Mr. HEFLIN. Mr. President, I am

∑

fpleased to submit for the RECORD the

memorializing resolutions from the

States of Washington, Hawaii, and Oregon calling on the Congress to pass an

amendment to the Constitution that

protects the United States flag from

desecration. I think these resolutions

are a wonderful reminder that the

movement and support for an amendment to protect the flag begin at the

grassroots level. Up to this point, 49

States have passed memorializing resolutions in support of a flag protection

amendment. I ask unanimous consent

that the texts of these resolutions be

printed in the RECORD.

STATE OF WASHINGTON: SENATE JOINT

MEMORIAL 8006

Whereas, Although the right of free expression is part of the foundation of the United

States Constitution, very carefully drawn