science.house.gov hearing: Opportunities and Challenges for Nuclear Power

[bananas]

I listened to the webcast (realplayer video, about two hours or so).
If you want to know where things are going, this'll give you a good idea.

http://science.house.gov/publications/hearings_markups_details.aspx?NewsID=2160

Hearings :: April 23, 2008
Opportunities and Challenges for Nuclear Power

Click here for the Webcast http://science.edgeboss.net/real/science/scitech08/042308.smi

http://science.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=2165

Press Releases :: April 23, 2008
Committee Reviews Benefits and Challenges of Nuclear Energy

(Washington, DC) – Today, the House Science and Technology Committee held a hearing on the opportunities and challenges for expanded nuclear power production.

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Witnesses at the hearing touched on a variety of issues associated with the expansion of nuclear power, including:
- The beneficial role of nuclear power in reducing greenhouse gas emissions (nuclear plants currently account for 73% of all carbon-free electric generation in the U.S.);
- The limited long-term capacity of permanent geologic disposal of spent nuclear fuel at the Yucca Mountain site, as well as the continued delays in the site's completion;
- Whether the U.S. should direct research to develop technologies to reprocess or "recycle" spent nuclear fuel and reduce the amount of waste that would have to be sent to Yucca Mountain;
- Whether, if the U.S. decides to proceed with reprocessing technologies, the Administration's proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) is the appropriate framework for doing so; and
- What are the appropriate Federal nuclear energy R&D priorities, given limited Federal dollars and the cost of advanced nuclear technologies?

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The following witnesses testified at today’s hearing: Mr. Robert Fri, Visiting Scholar, Resources for the Future; Mr. James Asselstine, Managing Director (retired), Lehman Brothers; Dr. Thomas Cochran, Senior Scientist, Nuclear Program, Natural Resources Defense Council; Mr. Robert Van Namen, Senior Vice President, Uranium Enrichment, USEC; Mr. John Grossenbacher, Idaho National Laboratory, Director, Department of Energy; Ms. Marilyn Kray, Vice President, Project Development, Exelon Nuclear