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National policies impacting our utilization of nuclear technologies need significant revitatlization and integration. Nuclear energy is a critical component of our national energy supply. Maintaining and even expanding our reliance on nuclear energy will be essential to maintain progress in clean air and is the only possible way that the Administration could even approach the goals of the Kyoto Protocol. Low emission technologies, like nuclear energy, should be encouraged by a revised EPA system for allocating emission allowances that rewards such performance.

Nuclear waste issues are the most serious roadblock to near term progress on nuclear energy. Interim storage is the only near term solution. In the longer term, the nation should join with an international group of partners to explore approaches to reducing the toxicity of high level wastes. Improvement in the regulatory climate provided by the NRC is the second essential step in revitalizing the nuclear energy industry. In the longer term, the nation needs to move towards advanced nuclear energy concepts that offer significant benefits over existing power plant designs.

The nation has a unique opportunity to reduce global stocks of nuclear weapons materials through agreements to dispose of 500 tons of Russian HEU and 50 tons of Russian plutonium. We must not fail to seize this chance. Unfortunately, actions of the Administration seriously undermined the HEU agreement last year, and only Congressional action to provide additional funding rescued that agreement. On the plutonium agreement, the Administration has failed to appoint a high level Presidential envoy to oversee the entire effort—this is urgently needed to achieve success. Civilian nuclear energy is now and will be playing an essential role in reducing the global stocks of nuclear weapons materials.