February 29, 1996

The Honorable Frank Murkowski

Chairman

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

United States Senate

Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Mr. Chairman:

Please be advised that, pursuant to section 101(b) of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, as amended, I have informed the appropriate ethics officials that the information required by section 102(a)(1)(A) of the Act with respect to income and honoraria contained in the Standard Form 278 (Executive Branch Public Financial Disclosure Report) executed by me on January 25, 1996, is current as of February 29, 1996.

This date is within five days prior to the date of the hearing scheduled to consider my nomination.

State of Texas

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Sincerely,

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Charles William Burton

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 24 day of February, 1996. Opan K. Sheebenou

Notary Public

APPENDIX II

Responses to Additional Questions

Hon. FRANK H. MURKOWSKI,

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, Washington, DC, March 12, 1996.

Chairman, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Enclosed are written answers to the post-hearing questions submitted to me by you and other members of the Committee. Also enclosed are responses to several questions posed to me during the hearing.

Sincerely,

THOMAS P. GRUMBLY,

[Enclosures.]

Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management.

RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS FROM ORAL TESTIMONY

HANFORD VITRIFICATION

Question. When will the Hanford vitrification plant be ready for startup? Answer. Operations are expected to be initiated in December 2002. This will include both low-level waste and high-level waste.

USE OF COMMERCIAL REACTORS FOR REDUCTION OF FISSILE MATERIALS

Question. Is there a prohibition on the use of commercial reactors such as Palo Verde for reducing fissile materials?

Answer. The Department knows of no statutory or regulatory prohibition on disposing of surplus weapons plutonium through the use of a commercial reactor. However, licensing amendments would be required from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to operate any of the currently licensed commercial reactors for this purpose.

TRITIUM TESTING

Question. What groundwater plume testing, with respect to tritium, is being done at Hanford and the Savannah River Site? What do you expect to accomplish with

the tests?

Answer. At Savannah River Site: Established in the mid-1950's, the Savannah River Site (SRS) groundwater monitoring program has been significantly expanded during the past decade to include over 1,200 wells and 100,000 analyses per year. Results show that total liquid tritium from all sources decreased from 11,300 curies in 1993 to 8,800 curies in 1994. Eighty-six percent is from the contaminated groundwater plume. The remaining 14% is from a permitted effluent treatment facility which discharges to a surface tributary of the Savannah River. The annual dose from tritium to an individual from ingestion of Savannah River water is less than 1% of what is allowed by the drinking water standards.

All seepage basins which were the source of contamination have been closed under State of South Carolina RCRA permits. Maximum tritium concentrations at monitoring wells have dropped from 60,000 pCi/ml (1990) to 21,000 pCi/ml (1994). These concentrations will continue to decline due to the natural decay of tritium. DOE is currently constructing a pump, treat and reinject groundwater remediation system which will hydraulically control the tritium plume and slow its movement to surface waters. This will result in a further reduction of about 2,000 curies

per year to the Savannah River. The project, which will go into operation this year, was developed under a state of South Carolina RCRA permit. The Savannah River Site Citizens' Advisory Board recommended an independent scientific peer review of this project. The review recommended proceeding with the project, which has an estimated total project cost of approximately $100 million over 20 years.

At Hanford: There are three separate groundwater monitoring programs in place at Hanford: the surveillance monitoring project, the RCRA monitoring program, and the Operational monitoring program.

Within these programs, hundreds of groundwater wells are monitored at varying frequencies and for a variety of contaminants or constituents.

Tritium is the most commonly analyzed radionuclide on site. Results of these programs are used to track plume migration and concentrations over time. The objective of the groundwater monitoring efforts is to delineate the distribution and movement of contaminants, to evaluate doses on receptors, and to satisfy applicable DOE Orders for environmental surveillance.

Groundwater samples are routinely tested for tritium. Groundwater samples are sent to DOE, Pacific Northwest Laboratories and Environmental Protection Agency laboratories for quality control testing. Results from this quality control testing have consistently demonstrated excellent performance of analytical services for identification and quantification of radionuclides in groundwater. The Department, therefore, believes that there is no technological challenge to the accurate measurement of tritium in groundwater.

Question. Has the Department used tritium in groundwater tests at any of its sites? If so, with what results?

Answer. The Department has never purposefully injected tritium into the groundwater at Hanford to use it as a tracer. However, there are large plumes of tritiumcontaminated groundwater at Hanford, and on occasion, the presence of tritium in Hanford groundwater has been used as an indicator for the potential occurrence of other, associated contaminants. In this sense, tritium has been used as a "tracer" at Hanford.

AMENDMENTS TO THE RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY ACT

Question. What changes to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) do you support?

Answer. RCRA has allowed the United States to make tremendous progress toward proper waste management and its implementation has minimized the creation of future Superfund sites. However, there is general agreement among the states, the Environmental Protection Agency and the regulated community, of which DOE is a part, that some reforms would be beneficial. In an effort to improve RCRA, last year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) convened a multi-stakeholder process, which included DOE, to obtain suggestions to improve the hazardous waste management system under RCRA.

During that process, we identified several changes that we believe would be very beneficial. First, we supported changes to facilitate the management of remediation wastes by making the applicable requirements more practical, effective, and costreasonable. EPA and an industry coalition group have been working with Senator Lott's staff to develop a legislative proposal to achieve this goal.

Second, we supported modifications to existing permit requirements to (1) promote the use of mobile treatment technologies for cleanup activities by allowing for multisite use of the unit (this would save the high costs of obtaining multiple permits for the same unit and be considerably more expeditious); and (2) allow for the issuance of a single class permit in cases where multiple treatment, storage, or disposal facilities of the same design will be built at the same or different sites. This would avoid redundant permits, unnecessary costs and delays.

Third, we supported changes that would allow the Administrator to rely on the environmental protection afforded by another Federal statute in lieu of RCRA requirements if the other statute's requirements are protective of human health and

the environment.

Finally, we supported the concept advanced by many in the regulated community, that would provide EPA with the flexibility to tailor hazardous waste management requirements to the actual risk posed by management practices for that particular waste. This would avoid costly hazardous waste management requirements that are not necessary to protect human health and the environment.

QUESTIONS FROM SENATOR THOMAS

Question 1. With the attention that is focussed on the Department's efforts to manage and remediate this country's nuclear waste, much of the other work of the

Department is ignored. Could you please describe the work of the Department which does not involve nuclear waste?

Answer. The Department of Energy serves the nation in critical non-nuclear waste areas, including advancing science and technology, ensuring a secure national defense, providing for a more sustainable energy future, and improving environmental quality. In addition, the Department brings these services to the American people as cost-effectively as possible.

The Department's research efforts contribute substantially to the nation's scientific excellence. Over the past 50 years, DOE and its predecessor agencies have established an extensive National Laboratory and university network of expertise in science and engineering-a network that has supported the research of over 60 Nobel Prize winners, including four of the five American winners in physics and chemistry in 1995. Through our more than two dozen laboratories and our numerous special user facilities, we conduct a major portion of the nations federally funded research in civilian science, technology development, and engineering resources. Our research constantly replenishes America's capabilities for technological innovation in the areas of energy, environment, national security and health. It is in the interest of the nation that these resources be sustained for the benefit of future generations. In an era of reduced budgets, we are paring overhead costs and improving laboratory services to improve management and to allow scientists the full advantages of research funding. These changes are in accord with recent recommendations of two independent assessments: the Secretary of Energy's Task Forces on Strategic Energy Research and Development (headed by Daniel Yergin) and on Alternative Futures for the Department of Energy National Laboratories (headed by Robert Galvin). The findings of these independent panels stress the importance of research and development to America's future prosperity and scientific leadership.

The end of the Cold War has not brought an end to nuclear threats or risks. Reducing the global nuclear danger is one of the United States' primary national security goals. The Department's national security programs are responsible for: 1) preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons, 2) maintaining confidence in our nuclear weapons deterrent without underground nuclear testing, 3) safeguarding and disposing of nuclear materials, and 4) improving nuclear reactor safety. Toward these ends, the Department is aggressively pursuing science-based alternatives to underground testing to ensure the safety and reliability of the enduring arsenal and support the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty-at the same time that we pursue an assured source of tritium for the future, dismantlement of nuclear weapons, effective nuclear material protection control and accounting in Russia and the other Newly Independent States, and improved nuclear safety worldwide.

The Department works to advance energy technologies that ensure energy security and improve environmental quality. These advances are meeting the concerns of the American public for a sustainable energy future. The clean energy technologies emerging from DOE research are increasing the nation's energy security and economic productivity—and lowering America's energy bills.

Recent forecasts indicate that the nation's dependence on imported oil will rise significantly in coming years. At the same time, global energy demand, fueled by economic growth in developing nations, is projected to increase by 40 percent in the next 15 years. This new demand is expected to exacerbate problems with urban air quality and global climate change. Fortunately, new energy supply and end-use technologies and fuel substitution can dramatically improve global environmental quality and reduce the nation's dependence on imported oil.

The Department advances the use of U.S. clean energy products and technologies both domestically and worldwide. Reductions in support for these activities are no bargain for the nation. In FY 1997, the Department will continue to promote clean energy technologies domestically and in global markets in China, India, South Africa, Latin America, and other regions. These vast and highly competitive international markets offer opportunities for the U.S. companies to become foremost providers of sustainable energy technologies.

The federal lead in sharing the costs of energy research and development is justified by energy and environmental trends that will affect the nation in the long run. The private sector cannot alone undertake the long-term research required to develop the energy technologies that will benefit the nation as a whole. This is why the Department of Energy leverages federal funding with non-federal resources to develop technologies for a cleaner and affordable energy future.