Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I appreciate the committee’s continued active oversight of issues relating to civilian use of nuclear technologies and welcome the opportunity to provide the industry’s perspective on issues raised in the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO’s) June 2004 Report on low-level radioactive waste.

The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) represents 260 corporate members in 13 countries. They include companies that operate nuclear power plants, design and engineering firms, fuel suppliers and service companies, companies that manage and dispose of low-level radioactive waste, companies involved in nuclear medicine and nuclear industrial applications, radionuclide and radiopharmaceutical companies, universities and research laboratories, and labor unions.

Nuclear technologies offer significant benefits to society. America’s nuclear power plants produce 20 percent of the nation’s electricity. More than 30 million medical procedures a year use nuclear technologies for diagnosis or therapy, accounting for about one in three hospital admissions. Critical industries use radioactive materials as power supplies, for making measurements and to analyze and test new components and devices. Low-level waste (LLW) is a normal industrial byproduct of these beneficial uses.

The GAO report on low-level waste (GAO-04-604) provides an excellent review and update of the situation on the availability of disposal sites for LLW. The report concludes that the availability is currently adequate, but that the situation could change in the future. As a result, we agree that Congress must remain actively involved in the oversight of the issue.