The Department of Energy's FY 1997 budget request for Environment, safety and health, environmental restoration and waste management (non-defense) and nuclear energy : hearing before the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment of the Committee on Science,

764 Pages·1997·25.8 MB·English

by  United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science. Subcommittee on Energy and Environment

THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY'S FY 1997 BUDGET
REQUESTS FOR ENVIRONMENT, SAFETY AND
HEALTH, ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION AND
WASTE MANAGEMENT (NON-DEFENSE) AND NU-
CLEAR ENERGY
Y 4. SCI 2: 104/72
Tke Oepartnent of Eaergy's FY 1997...
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND ENATOONMENT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
U.S.
ONE HUNDRED FOURTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
MAY 1, 1996
[No. 72]
Printed for the use of the Committee on Science
OEWSnORY
MAR 1 9 1397
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THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY'S FY 1997 BUDGET
REQUESTS FOR ENVIRONMENT, SAFETY AND
HEALTH, ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION AND
WASTE MANAGEMENT (NON-DEFENSE) AND NU-
CLEAR ENERGY
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATI\^S
U.S.
ONE HUNDRED FOURTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
MAY 1, 1996
[No. 72]
Printed for the use of the Committee on Science
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
27-350CC WASHINGTON 1997
:
ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice
SuperintendentofDocuments,CongressionalSalesOffice,Washington,DC 20402
ISBN 0-16-054005-4
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE
ROBERT S. WALKER, Pennsylvania, Chairman
F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, Jr.. GEORGE E. BROWN, Jr., California RMM*
WiBconsin HAROLD L. VOLKMER, Missouri
SHERWOOD L. BOEHLERT, New York RALPH M. HALL, Texas
HARRIS W. FAWELL, Illinois BART GORDON, Tennessee
CONSTANCE A. MORELLA, Maryland JAMES A. TRAFICANT, Jr., Ohio
CURT WELDON, Pennsylvania JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee
DANA ROHRABACHER, California TIM ROEMER, Indiana
STEVEN H. SCHIFF, New Mexico ROBERT E. (Bud) CRAMER, Jr., Alabama
JOE BARTON, Texas JAMES A. BARCIA, Michigan
KEN CALVERT, California PAUL McHALE, Pennsylvania
BILL BAKER, California JANE HARMAN, California
ROSCOE G. BARTLETT, Maryland EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas
VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan** DAVID MINGE, Minnesota
ZACH WAMP, Tennessee JOHN W. OLVER, Massachusetts
DAVE WELDON, Florida ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida
LINDSEY 0. GRAHAM, South Carolina LYNN N. RIVERS, Michigan
MATT SALMON, Arizona KAREN McCarthy, Missouri
THOMAS M. DAVIS, Virginia MIKE WARD, Kentucky
STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas ZOE LOFGREN, California
GIL GUTKNECHT, Minnesota LLOYD DOGGETT, Texas
ANDREA H. SEASTRAND, CaUfomia MICHAEL F. DOYLE, Pennsylvania
TODD TL^HRT, Kansas SHEILAJACKSON LEE, Texas
STEVE LARGENT, Oklahoma WILLIAM P. LUTHER, Minnesota
VAN HILLEARY, Tennessee
BARBARA CUBIN, Wyoming
MARK ADAM FOLEY, Florida
SUE MYRICK, North Carolina
David D. Clement, ChiefofStaffand ChiefCounsel
Barry Beringer, General Counsel
TiSH Schwartz, ChiefClerk andAdministrator
Robert E. Palmer, Democratic StaffDirector
Subcommittee on Energy and Environment
DANA ROHRABACHER, California, Chairman
HARRIS W. FAWELL, Illinois TIM ROEMER, Indiana
CURT WELDON, Pennsylvania DAVID MINGE, Mhmesota
ROSCOE G. BARTLETT, Maryland JOHN W. OLVER, Massachusetts
ZACH WAMP, Tennessee MIKE WARD, Kentucky
LINDSEY 0. GRAHAM, South Carolina MICHAEL F. DOYLE, Pennsylvania
MATT SALMON, Arizona JAMES A. BARCIA, Michigan
THOMAS M. DAVIS, Virginia PAUL McHALE, Pennsylvania
STEVE LARGENT, Oklahoma EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas
BARBARA CUBIN, Wyoming LYNN N. RIVERS, Michigan
MARK ADAM FOLEY, Florida KAREN McCarthy, Missouri
STEVEN H. SCHIFF, New Mexico HAROLD L. VOLKMER, Missouri
BILL BAKER, California SHEILAJACKSON LEE, Texas
VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan
STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas
*RankingMinorityMember
**ViceChairman
(II)
CONTENTS
WITNESSES
Page
May 1, 1996:
Panel 1:
Mr. Peter N. Brush, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Environment,
Safety and Health, U.S. DepartmentofEnergy, Washington, DC 4
Rear Admiral Richard J. Guimond, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Environmental Management, U.S. Department ofEnergy, Washing-
ton, DC 21
Ms. Bernice Steinhardt, Associate Director, Energy, Resources, and
Science Issues, Resources, Community, and Economic Development Di-
vision, U.S. General Accounting Office, Washington, DC 54
Dr. E. William Colglazier, Executive Officer, National Academy of
Sciences and National Research Council, Washington, DC 116
Panel 2:
Dr. Terry R. Lash, Director, Office ofNuclear Energy, Science and Tech-
nology, U.S. DepartmentofEnergy, Washington, DC 146
Mr. Thomas A. Schatz, President, Citizens Against Government Waste,
Washington, DC 171
Mr. Phillip Bayne, Chief Executive Officer, Nuclear Energy Institute,
Washington, DC 177
Mr. Matt Freedman, Energy Policy Analyst, Public Citizen's Critical
Mass Project, Washington, DC 186
APPENDK
Additional testimony:
Mr. Robert M. Vijuk, Westinghouse Electric Corporation Energy Sys-
tems Business Unit, Monroeville, PA 210
Mr. George A. Davis, Project Manager, System 80+ Deployment,
U.S. ABB Combustion EngineeringNuclear Systems, Windsor, CT 215
.
Additional material:
Improving the Environment: An Evaluation ofDOE's Environmental
Management Program, National Research Council, Committee to
Evaluate the Science, Engineering, and Health Basis ofthe Depart-
ment of Energy's Environmental Management Program, Washing-
ton DC: NationalAcademyPress, 1995 221
Environmental Management Technology-Development Program at the
Department of Energy: 1995 Review, National Research Council,
Committee on Environmental Management Technologies, Board on
Radioactive Waste Management, Commission on Geosciences, Envi-
ronment, and Resources, Washington, DC: National Academy
Press, 1996 435
Follow-upquestions and answers for the record:
Mr. PeterN. Brush 571
RearAdmiral Richard J. Guimond 628
Ms. Bernice Steinhardt 696
Dr. E. William Colglazier 701
Dr. Terry R. Lash 706
(III)

THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY'S FY 1997
BUDGET REQUESTS FOR ENVIRONMENT,
SAFETY AND HEALTH, ENVIRONMENTAL
RESTORATION AND WASTE MANAGEMENT
(NON-DEFENSE) AND NUCLEAR ENERGY
WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1996
U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Science,
Subcommittee on Energy and Environment,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee convened at 10:28 a.m. in room 2318 of the
Raybum House Office Building, the Honorable Dana Rohrabacher,
Chairman ofthe Subcommittee, presiding.
Members present: Representatives Rohrabacher, Roemer, Fawell
Baker, Doyle, Wamp, Foley, Olver, Ehlers Jackson Lee, Minge,
McHale, Volkmer, Rivers and McCarthy.
Chairman ROHRABACHER. This hearing of the Energy and Envi-
ronment Subcommittee will come to order.
Today is another in a series of hearings on the Department of
Energy's Fiscal Year 1997 Budget Authorization.
Before making some opening remarks, I would like to bring the
members of the Subcommittee up to date on the authorization
schedule.
At last week's markup of the Omnibus Science Bill, Chairman
Walker asked that the DOE authorization be considered separately
by this Subcommittee after completing hearings on all the DOE
programs under our jurisdiction. So far we have heard from the
DOE's Chief Financial Officer as well as program heads for Fossil
Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy as well as the
Fusion Energy Program.
Today's hearing and a hearing I have scheduled for May 8th will
complete the process, and it is my intention to move on to a mark-
up on the afternoon ofMay 15th.
It is my impression from Members' comments on both sides of
the aisle that a majority of this Subcommittee would like to com-
plete a new Authorization Bill, and I am proceeding on that as-
sumption. I intend for the markup to be an inclusive process.
The Budget Committee is due to mark up this week, and that
should give us some parameters with which to work. Within those
parameters I welcome suggestions from all members of the Sub-
committee on areas of particular interest. Suggestions will have
more credibility if suggested increases are accompanied by sug-
gested decreases in spending levels.
(1)
I believe our priorities should continue to be the funding of en-
ergy research and basis science programs, and my mark will reflect
those priorities. However, we should still have enough flexibility to
meet other Members' concerns even in the markup.
And let me also say as we move through this process and have
votes of the Subcommittee, if the majority of the members of this
Subcommittee have a different priority from the Chairman, that's
what will be reflected in the final bill when we pass this out of our
Subcommittee.
The only thing I'm asking for is for all of us to try at least to
meet the goals, our budget goals that we've set before us and not
simply try to increase the spending level, but if we have different
priorities to set those priorities and say more money should be here
and less money should go to another area.
Turning to today's hearing, we will first cover the Office ofEnvi-
ronment, Safety and Health, and the Office ofEnvironmental Man-
agement. Later we will hear witnesses on the request of the Office
of Nuclear Energy. This Subcommittee has jurisdiction over the
waste cleanup of non-defense sites, a small portion of the entire
waste cleanup budget.
The Fiscal Year 1997 Administration request is I believe $651
million, which is a nine percent increase over the 1996 appropria-
tion. The Environment, Safety and Health request of $112 million
represents a six percent cut from the current appropriation level.
The Office of Nuclear Energy is requesting $248 million for fiscal
year 1997, and that also is a cut of 1.4 percent from the current
funding.
Agency representatives will not be the only witnesses today. We
will also hear from the GAO and the National Academy ofSciences.
Both organizations have conducted recent studies on the DOE's
waste cleanup program.
We will also hear from representatives of Citizens Against Gov-
ernment Waste and Public Citizen on continued funding ofthe Ad-
vguiced Light Water Reactor Program, which should be an interest-
ing discussion.
Although I believe that nuclear power provides a safe, clean en-
ergy source, I seriously question the continued use of scarce re-
search dollars to pay for certification requirements and for the fees
of major corporations, and this will be something we will be dis-
cussing.
Before I introduce our first panel, let me turn to my colleague
from Indiana, the distinguished Ranking Minority Member, Mr.
Roemer, for his opening remarks.
I apologize that we got started a half an hour late. There was
a conference on the floor about a major issue in which Republicans
had to make up our minds. We were discussing these things be-
tween ourselves, and I'm sorry that that caused us to be a little
late this morning.
Mr. Roemer.
Mr. Roemer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous con-
sent to have my entire statement entered into the record.
Chairman ROHRABACHER. Without objection.
Mr. Roemer. First of all, I would like to welcome our witnesses.
I look forward to your testimony here this morning. I am particu-
larly interested in discussing the efforts on behalf of the Depart-
ment ofEnergy to move toward external regulation.
So I have a bill, H.R. 1510, that would move the Energy Depart-
ment towards these external regulations by legislative direction,
but I'm hopeful that we can hear some testimony from you today
as to what your recommendations are and what progress you might
see the Department making in this area in the future.
I'm interested in exploring aspects of the nuclear energy R&D
budget. My statement gets into a host of other things, including
some of the certification that the Chairman talked about with the
light water reactor facility.
Chairman Rohrabacher. Which side were you on?
Mr. ROEMER. I would like to engage our Chairman a little bit on
what he opened and what he prefaced his remarks on, and that is
the markup schedule for this Subcommittee. He indicated that this
Committee is going to go to markup on the 15th.
Is that correct, Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Rohrabacher. The 15th, yes.
Mr. ROEMER. It's the 15th. Now as many people here. Members
know and people testifying know and people from the audience
know, we've already marked up an Omnibus Energy Bill in Full
Committee, and now we're saying that this Subcommittee, which is
one of the crucial cornerstones of developing energy policy, is to
make recommendations to the appropriators, to the science commu-
nity and to the Senate. We are not going to even mark up our bill
until the entire bill has been marked up in Committee and has
gone to the floor on May 9th. Now I think we're moving very quick-
ly toward making this Committee irrelevant.
Mr. Chairman, you and I have had talks on the Floor about this,
and I am in no way insinuating or implying that you agree with
this kind of strategy that might make this Committee irrelevant.
But this kind of strategy, whether it's on the part of the Chair-
man of the Full Committee or whether it's on the part of the con-
sensus of this Committee, is quickly going to make those pro-
ponents that want to get rid of the Science Committee next year,
which I strongly oppose, it gives them fuel for the fire to say when
you cannot bring the energy component ofthis bill to Full Commit-
tee markup and to make that part ofthe Omnibus Bill, then maybe
we should eliminate the Science Committee.
I think you just give the proponents who are tr5dng to eliminate
this Committee more and more logical arguments to get rid of it,
and I am very, very upset about tlus, Mr. Chairman. I really think
that this is like bringing an agriculture bill to the floor without the
dairy component, like bringing a defense bill to the floor without
the Air Force component, or bringing an education bill to the floor
without the student loan component, and I really hope that we can
talk this Committee and the majority party into including the en-
tire part of the Committee's jurisdiction into an omnibus, what is
called, what is purportedly and supposedly called an "omnibus bill."
As the Ranking Member of this Subcommittee, Mr. Chairman, I
cannot convey to you how upsetting and how discouraging and dis-
appointing this process is. So I hope that we can still work together
in a bipartisan way. I know you and I will, but I hope this Sub-
committee will continue to work together in a bipartisan way
where we can make energy policy recommendations to the appro-
priators, to the United States Senate, to other people interested in
the policy implications that we undertake in the deliberations of
this Committee.
Certainly we're taking valuable time of these witnesses today,
and if these people are testifying, and we're having people testify
this week and next week, are we wasting their time when this Sub-
committee is not going to be taken seriously by the Full Committee
and we're not going to be part ofthe Omnibus Bill?
It's surprising to me that the Washington Post lists this Commit-
tee and our deliberations here in the paper this morning, I'm sur-
prised that our distinguished expert panelists showed up, and I
wonder if we can continue to get people to show up for Committee
hearings when this Committee is left out ofthe process, Mr. Chair-
man.
With that in exasperation and in frustration I would yield back
any time I have remaining.
Chairman RoHRABACHER. The Chairman takes note of that very
justified criticism, and recognizing that it's not this Chairman's de-
cision that he's criticizing.
Let me note for the Committee that we do have 10 minutes re-
served for opening remarks. I would invite other Members to sub-
mit their remarks for the record. Usually wejust open it up for the
Ranking Member as well as the Chairman to speak for their sides
ofthe aisle.
Is there anyone who would like to submit something for the
record?
[No response.]
Ifnot, our first panel will cover the Offices ofEnvironment, Safe-
ty and Health and Environment Management.
Peter Brush is the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for En-
vironment Safety and Health at the Department ofEnergy.
Rear Admiral Richard Guimond serves in the same role for the
Office ofEnvironmental Management.
Bemice Steinhardt is Associate Director of Resources, Commu-
nity and Economic Development Division for the General Account-
ing Office.
And Dr. E. William Colglazier is Executive Officer for the Na-
tional Academy ofSciences and National Research Council.
So without further ado and without objection, your entire testi-
mony will be submitted for the record. I wouldjust ask ifyou could
summarize in a five-minute segment. That will give time to the
members ofthe Committee to follow-up £ind ask questions.
Mr. Brush.
STATEMENT OF MR. PETER N. BRUSH, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY AS-
SISTANT SECRETARY FOR ENVIRONMENT, SAFETY AND
HEALTH, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. Brush. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I appreciate the opportunity tojoin my colleagues here to discuss
the Department of Energy's fiscal 1997 budget request for the Of-
fice ofEnvironment, Safety and Health.
Mr. Chairman, the Office of Environment, Safety and Health is
the central office in the Department ofEnergy dedicated to protect-