_______________________________________________
SENATE
JOINT MEMORIAL 8017
_______________________________________________
Passed
Legislature - 1993 Regular Session
State
of Washington 53rd Legislature 1993
Regular Session
By
Read
first time 02/15/93. Referred to Committee on Energy & Utilities.
Requesting the United States Department of Energy to support the Fast
Flux Test Facility at Hanford.
TO THE HONORABLE BILL CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND THE SECRETARY OF THE UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY:
We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of
Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled,
respectfully represent and petition as follows:
WHEREAS, The Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) at
Hanford is the newest, largest, safest and most versatile test reactor in the
nation; and
WHEREAS, The FFTF is a unique national asset,
and as the most advanced research and development facility of its kind is
invaluable to the international technical community; and
WHEREAS, Because of its size and versatility
the FFTF can support multiple missions simultaneously; and
WHEREAS, A marketing study commissioned by
former Governor Gardner and completed in March 1992, shows significant
international and domestic support for continued operation of the FFTF; and
WHEREAS, The United States Congress in the
National Energy Security Act of 1992 directed the United States Department of
Energy to aggressively pursue development and implementation of long-term
missions for the FFTF; and
WHEREAS, Similarly the Congress has
appropriated seventy million dollars for the continued operation of the FFTF
during federal fiscal year 1993; and
WHEREAS, The FFTF has set world performance
records for reactors; and
WHEREAS, The FFTF can produce life-saving
medical isotopes, including pain-relieving isotopes for sufferers of bone
cancer, and many of these isotopes are now imported; and
WHEREAS, The FFTF can be used to destroy
plutonium in nuclear weapons, leading to a safer world; and
WHEREAS, There is a great need for
Plutonium-238 to power space probes during the next century and the FFTF can
provide this material; and
WHEREAS, A potential exists for generating
commercial electrical power from the FFTF; and
WHEREAS, Foreign interests and foreign
governments have expressed interest and have pledged financial support for the
FFTF conditioned upon a long-term United States Department of Energy commitment
to the operation of the FFTF;
NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully
pray that the FFTF be given adequate financial and political support by the
United States Department of Energy so as to be given a long-term mission that
meets the potential needs of the nation and the world in the areas of medicine,
power, science, and world peace.
BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be
immediately transmitted to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the United
States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, the Secretary of the United States Department of Energy, and
each member of Congress from the State of Washington.
