6 



Prior to our hearing today, we had a press conference with the 

 Bellona Foundation and highhghted the concern that many of us 

 in the world have with the security agency in Russia, having just 

 recently infiltrated their headquarters and confiscated photographs 

 and documentation and computer systems and software that was 

 being used to document some gross nuclear storage problems inside 

 of Russia. 



We are not here, however, to criticize Russia alone. We are here 

 to say this is a world problem. We have not always been as forth- 

 coming in this country and we are going to talk about that today 

 in this hearing. But we are committing to work together, to use the 

 resources of this subcommittee and the other involved subcommit- 

 tees to make things happen. I pledge my full unequivocal support 

 and I think I know that that is shared by our colleagues on both 

 sides of the aisle, to have results that benefit the entire world com- 

 munity. Hopefully in that regard we can find solutions to these 

 most vexing and difficult problems. 



With that, I will yield to my distinguished friend and colleague 

 and longtime leader on national security, the honorable gentleman 

 from South Carolina, Mr. Spratt. 



STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN M. SPRATT, JR., A REPRESENTA- 

 TIVE FROM SOUTH CAROLINA, RANKING MINORITY MEM- 

 BER, MILITARY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SUB- 

 COMMITTEE 



Mr. Spratt. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 



The room is full and we have important witnesses. I do not want 

 to take much time. I want to start, though, by thanking you and 

 commending you for calling this hearing. I once chaired the Depart- 

 ment of Energy panel on this committee and our mission, part of 

 it was to focus attention on the legacy of 50 years of nuclear weap- 

 ons production. 



We should acknowledge from the outset, and our chairman al- 

 ready has, that this is not a problem that is unique to the former 

 Soviet Union. This is our problem, too. And the purpose of this 

 hearing, as the chairman said, is not to point fingers at our former 

 adversaries. It is to shed light on a common problem and an enor- 

 mous problem for both of us. 



Today, in particular, we bring attention to one phase of the prob- 

 lem which has received too little attention. We have tended to treat 

 the oceans as someone else's problem, as a place to put things that 

 is off our shore and off our national territory and therefore of no 

 immediate concern to us but is eventually of immediate concern to 

 everybody because the oceans belong to all of us and affect all of 

 us. 



I want to welcome our witnesses to our hearing today. Some of 

 you have traveled great distances to come and we look forward to 

 your testimony. 



Safely disposing of the wastes that we have generated to support 

 our nuclear arsenals during the cold war is a huge challenge and 

 it will take staggering sums of money to deal with it. For our coun- 

 try alone, the cost estimates run from $400 billion to as much as 

 $1.4 trillion, and as the chairman said, we have not yet stepped up 

 to the funding challenge. Indeed, this very committee reduced the 



