Copyright 1999 Federal News Service, Inc.
Federal News Service
SEPTEMBER 15, 1999, WEDNESDAY
SECTION: IN THE NEWS
LENGTH:
1384 words
HEADLINE: PREPARED STATEMENT OF
IVAN
ITKIN
NOMINEE FOR DIRECTOR OF
OFFICE OF CIVILIAN RADIOACTIVE WASTE
MANAGEMENT
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
BEFORE THE SENATE
ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE
BODY:
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
It is my privilege to
appear before this Committee today as the President's nominee to be the Director
of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management at the Department of
Energy. I am honored by the President's and Secretary Richardson's confidence in
me and would like to thank them both for their support. If confirmed, I look
forward to serving under Secretary Richardson's able leadership and working with
members of this Committee.
I would also like to thank you, Mr. Chairman, and
your staff, for moving forward so expeditiously with my nomination. I have
appreciated the opportunity to meet with some of the members of this Committee
and your staff to discuss issues relating to the Department's radioactive waste
management program. I look forward to meeting the other members in the near
future. My experience and background has taught me the importance of working
closely with this
Committee and the other Members of Congress in carrying
out my duties. I have spent 26 years of my life as a Pennsylvania state
representative. I believe that my legislative experience, especially my tenure
as a legislative leader, would be an asset in my service to the Department and
the country.
It was perhaps serendipitous that this opportunity should arise
at this point in my life. My training in engineering and science opened the door
of public service when I was beginning my career, and if my nomination is
confirmed, this training will have opened the door again during the latter stage
of my career. My first job was as a reactor physicist for Westinghouse at the
Bettis Laboratory. My co-workers and I designed nuclear reactors for the United
States Navy. We reported to Vice Admiral Hyman Rickover. He gave us a very clear
and straightforward task - create a nuclear powered Navy for this country. We
did.
You have been provided with a complete resume of my credentials for
this position, but I would like to call your attention to a few specifics that I
think you will find pertinent:
- I served on the state legislative panel
that investigated the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island.
- I was
appointed by former Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh to the Council of
Northeast Governors' task force on low-level radioactive waste disposal.
- I
chaired the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Mines and Energy Management
Committee.
- I chaired the National Conference of State Legislatures'
Science, Technology and Resource Planning Committee and served as a member of
its High-Level Radioactive Waste Interim Storage and Transportation Working
Group.
- While serving as the Majority Leader of the Pennsylvania House of
Representatives, I managed 600 state employees and $16 million in legislative
accounts.
- I earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of
Pittsburgh, a Master's degree in nuclear engineering from New York University, a
Bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of
Brooklyn, and an honorary Doctorate in Public Service from Chatham College.
The mission of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management is to
manage and dispose of our Nation's spent nuclear fuel and high- level
radioactive waste. The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management was
created by Congress by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 that established the
federal government's responsibilities to manage these materials. This office
leads the Department's efforts by pursing the Nation's policy for developing a
geologic repository for the long-term permanent management of radioactive
materials. The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management's Yucca
Mountain Site Characterization Project is responsible for conducting
the scientific and technical work necessary to make a decision on whether or not
the Yucca Mountain site is suitable for further development as
a permanent geologic repository.The Nuclear Waste Policy Act also requires the
Department to develop the national transportation capability to safely transport
spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste to a geologic repository. To
fulfill these requirements, the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste
Management's Waste Acceptance and Transportation activities conducts the work
necessary to ensure that a transportation infrastructure will be ready to move
waste to a permanent repository. A third component of the Office, is program
integration, which provides management support to both the Characterization
Project and the Waste Acceptance and Transportation activities. The Office of
Civilian Radioactive Waste Management also engages in other scientific studies
seeking ways to enhance the management of spent nuclear and high-level
radioactive waste in the future. As part of this effort, the Office is about to
complete a study that examines the feasibility of accelerator transmutation
technologies.
The Department of Energy is committed to fulfilling its
responsibilities for the permanent disposal of the Nation's spent fuel and the
by-products of the Department's post-Cold-War cleanup efforts in a manner
consistent with sound science and protection of public health, safety, and the
environment. Establishing a permanent geologic repository is essential not only
to dispose of commercial spent fuel, but also to dispose of spent fuel and
high-level radioactive waste from the Department's nuclear waste complex and
from the Navy's nuclear-powered fleet. The Department has made substantial
progress in fulfilling these responsibilities. I would like tohighlight some
aspects of that progress that I hope to build upon, if I am confirmed for this
position.
Secretary Richardson submitted the Viability Assessment of a
Repository at Yucca Mountain to the Congress and the President
in December 1998. The Viability Assessment revealed no technical show stoppers
identified to date at Yucca Mountain, but it did identify
additional scientific and technical work needed to be performed at the site. The
Department will study the presence and movement of water through the repository
block, the effects of water movement on the waste package, and the effects of
heat from the decay of radioactive materials inside the waste packages on the
site's geologic and hydro- logic behavior.
In July of this year, the
Department completed another important milestone by issuing the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement for Yucca Mountain. This
statement provides the public an opportunity to review the Department's analysis
of the potential environmental impacts of constructing, operating and
monitoring, and eventually closing a repository at Yucca
Mountain. These comments will serve as a guide in completing the final
stat that would accompany a decision by the Secretary on whether or not to
recommend the site for development as a permanent geologic repository. The
Department will continue to proceed with the scientific and technical work
aiming to reduce the uncertainties so that an informed science-based decision
will be made on Yucca Mountain.
As you know, the Department
is in litigation over its inability to meet their contractual obligation to
accept spent fuel from the nuclear utility companies by January 1998. I am
sensitive to the concerns of utilities. The Secretary has put forth the concept
of taking title to utilities' spent nuclear fuel at the reactor site, and he has
encouraged utilities and other stakeholders to participate in discussion of how
best to implement such an idea. I understand that Chairman Murkowski, Senator
Bingaman and others on this Committee have been engaged in discussions on this
issue in an effort to develop an acceptable legislative solution. I realize that
addressing the Department's contractual obligation to the utilities is of major
concern to members of this Committee.
I believe my experience will enable me
to advance the progress the Department has made to date with the
characterization activities at Yucca Mountain. I ize that
technical and scientific questions about the site remain. This will require a
continued and sustained effort over the next couple of years. I look forward to
the challenge. I appreciate the Committee's consideration of my nomination and
will be glad to answer any questions you may have.
END
LOAD-DATE: September 16, 1999
