85 



ment of Energy's environmental management program, as you well 

 know. The DOD program is about $5 billion, but it has been com- 

 ing down. 



We do not have the authority today to make that investment, 

 other than if we are directed to do so by Congress. We have in- 

 vested $30 million over the last several years at congressional di- 

 rection in the Arctic Nuclear Waste Assessment Program, which 

 Admiral Pelaez will address in his testimony. I think that has been 

 wisely invested. I do think there are opportunities for wise, though 

 modest, levels of investment in the future and we would welcome 

 your support and congressional direction on that. 



Much of the investment we make in this area really comes from 

 what is called the Nunn-Lugar funds. That $30 million that is in- 

 vested so far has been part of that funding. As you know, that is 

 very important to Dr. Perry. It has also been a subject of much de- 

 bate and discussion among the Congress. To date, much of that in- 

 vestment has gone to helping the Russians meet their treaty com- 

 mitments, some of which, including $25 million that has helped the 

 Russians dismantle their missile compartments, has some applica- 

 tion in this area, although it is not designed exclusively to address 

 environmental management practices, but further direction by Con- 

 gress to us in this area could be helpful. 



Mr. Weldon. I will just say on the record that you have my as- 

 surance that I will assist you in the administration's attempt or 

 success in finding the money to reprogram for this, because a re- 

 programming request from the administration to us carries with it 

 the authorization that is needed to fund the program. So if we, in 

 fact, can get the administration to work with us in that regard, I 

 will perform my task in helping you through the process and would 

 just offer that to you for further consideration. I am sure we will 

 be discussing that in the future. 



One final question, and I appreciate you answering the question 

 on the U.S. naval reactor program. I am not here to trash anyone, 

 because I do not have any hidden agenda here. It is just to find 

 out the facts. 



I have been told, and I want to ask this question on the record 

 just so I can get an answer, if not right now, perhaps for the 

 record, that there was a specific request made by Nicholai Yegeroff, 

 the Deputy Minister of Atomic Energy, back in, I think it was Feb- 

 ruary, to bring a team of Russians over — ^this request was made 

 through DOE so it did not go to DOD directly — ^to understand the 

 way that we remove reactor compartments from our ships. They 

 were going to go to Puget Sound, and then I think they wanted to 

 go to Hanford to see how this material is, in fact, handled by us. 



I have been told that that was never responded to nor was 

 agreed to. Now, there may be reasons for that. Maybe there are se- 

 curity reasons. Maybe there are other things that I do not know 

 about and perhaps maybe did not even occur. Perhaps you cannot 

 answer this for the record, but I would appreciate a response to 

 know whether or not — I know the reqeust was made, because I 

 have a copy of Yegeroff s letter, but was there a response? Was it 

 negative? And if it was negative, why, so that I can better under- 

 stand. 



