258 



Mr. Pritchard. Even if the United States does not utilize a 

 seabed to dispose of radioactive waste, other countries may not 

 have a politically acceptable land-based option. Are any countries 

 studying the seabed option? What kinds of coordination are we 

 having, and what kinds of information are we getting from them, if 

 they are studying the option? Can you respond to that? 



Mr. Brown. There is some international cooperation on sub- 

 seabed disposal that has been organized under the Nuclear Energy 

 Agency, and its Radioactive Waste Management Committee. The 

 United States, Canada, France, Japan, the Netherlands, and the 

 United Kingdom participate in the seabed working group, which 

 provides a forum for assessment of progress, coordination of cooper- 

 ative cruises and experiments, information exchange, and discus- 

 sion of legal and policy issues. 



Now, through the seabed working group, the United States and 

 Japan are jointly studying the North Pacific for subseabed disposal. 



Mr. Pritchard. Do you feel that you are getting the information 

 from these countries? 



Mr. Brown. Yes, we do, sir. 



Mr. Pritchard. I have another question. 



Are there any plans by the U.S. Government to develop nuclear 

 waste storage facilities in any of the Pacific islands of the trust 

 territories at this time? 



Mr. Brown. Well, as you are probably aware, sir, we have a joint 

 arrangement with the Japanese to study the feasibility of using a 

 Pacific island as a possible site for the interim storage of spent 

 nuclear fuel. There was an agreement for such a joint study signed 

 in Tokyo last July, July 18. There was a recent meeting, just last 

 week, in fact, of the steering committee, which is made up of my 

 boss, Ambassador Pickering, and counterparts on the Japanese 

 side, together with several other technical people, and a work plan 

 was agreed to. 



The work will begin on the first of January. It is a 2-year 

 feasibility study. There are no plans at the moment to build such a 

 facility in the Pacific. But the United States and the Japanese are 

 looking at the feasibility of such a storage site. 



Mr. Pritchard. Would you have to come back to Congress to get 

 authorization to go ahead with the building? 



Mr. Brown. Absolutely. 



Mr. Pritchard. I think Mr. Akaka will probably be interested in 

 this. 



All right. Thank you. I know we have a lot of members here who 

 also have questions. 



Mr. Studds. Ms. Mikulski? 



Ms. Mikulski. I just have a few questions, Mr. Brown, and I 

 would like to compliment you on the philosophical underpinning 

 which you so clearly stated on page 6. 



My question, one on page 2, you related that we are not involved 

 in these regional conventions in the Mediterranean and so on. 



Could you tell me, briefly, why is it that we want to leave 

 ourselves with more flexibility and certain loopholes because the 

 London Convention is broader? 



Mr. Brown. Such regional conventions reflect common geograph- 

 ic concerns. Membership is generally limited to countries in the 



