It is high time we took the bull by the horns and dealt honestly and professionally with the issue of nuclear waste. The answer, Madam Speaker, is very simple. We rely on civilian nuclear power plants for almost one quarter, let me repeat that, almost one quarter of our Nation's electric power supply. Last year, our 103 nuclear power plants, which is down from a few years back, were more productive than ever before by producing safe, reliable, inexpensive electricity, more than ever before.
Nuclear power is one piece, and by no means, a small piece.
It is a part of the engine that drives the American economy. The thousands of tons of radioactive fuel currently sitting in spent fuel pools across this Nation cannot sit there forever. The United States Government made a commitment to the Nation's nuclear utilities and to its people, a commitment that it would build a repository and begin receiving spent fuel in 1998, a responsibility under law passed in this very Chamber. That deadline is well passed, and a most optimistic estimate for what the Department of Energy now says to begin taking shipments would be the year 2010. The failure by the administration and DOE to live up to its responsibilities is now forcing the nuclear industry to expend considerable sums of money to construct additional storage.