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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 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 rv/ ^•> ni^mtifJJUC LtP 'Tt;^ 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 markup 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 complete 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 suggested decreases in spending levels. (1) I believe our priorities should continue to be the funding of energy 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 appropriation. 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 energy source, I seriously question the continued use of scarce research dollars to pay for certification requirements and for the fees of major corporations, and this will be something we will be discussing. 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 community 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 quickly 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 proponents 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 entire 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 appropriators, 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 submit 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 testimony 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-