WASHINGTON, March 21 (UPI) -- The acting head of the U.S. National Nuclear Safety Administration was quizzed Tuesday about his agency's nuclear waste policy.
Rep. Terry Everett, R-Ala., the ranking Republican on the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the Armed Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, said in a statement at Tuesday's hearing on the Department of Energy's Fiscal Year 2008 budget request for atomic energy defense activities that he wanted to question Tom D'Agostino, the NNSA's acting administrator, on "progress in the consolidation and disposition of nuclear material, including the status of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Facility (MOX) project and the impact of the Continuing Resolution-not just on MOX but the larger security and financial costs of not consolidating nuclear materials in the near-term."
Everett also told Jim Rispoli, assistant secretary for environmental management at the U.S. Department of Energy, that he wanted to explore "progress in the disposition of special nuclear materials and radioactive tank waste."
"Has a disposition path been identified for both high- and low-level waste and is the technology mature for these disposition paths," Everett asked.
The "consolidation of nuclear materials across the (U.S. civilian nuclear) complex" was "a key component of the planned "transformation" of U.S. civilian nuclear activities, the congressman said.
