H-4651.3          _______________________________________________

                             HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 4039

                  _______________________________________________

State of Washington              54th Legislature             1996 Regular Session

By Representatives Hankins, Patterson, Delvin, Mitchell, Blanton, Cairnes, Skinner, Crouse, Chandler, Mastin, Kessler, Casada, Grant and Thompson

Read first time 02/02/96.  Referred to Committee on Rules.

Requesting that the Hanford Fast Flux Facility be preserved.

     TO THE HONORABLE WILLIAM J. 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:

     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, More than ninety percent of the reactor-produced medical isotopes currently used in the United States are imported; and

     WHEREAS, The Hanford Fast Flux Test Facility is capable of providing a wide variety of high quality medical isotopes for diagnosing and treating cancer, and relieving pain caused by cancer, and in 1986 produced the purest form ever made of gadolinium-153, an isotope used to diagnose osteoporosis; and

     WHEREAS, The Hanford Fast Flux Test Facility could also produce isotopes for agricultural, industrial, and business applications; and

     WHEREAS, Opportunities for research and clinical trials with isotopes are severely limited; and

     WHEREAS, A private business group has presented a formal offer to the United States Department of Energy to operate the Hanford Fast Flux Test Facility at a cost less than the cost to shut down the Facility; and

     WHEREAS, The Hanford Fast Flux Test Facility is an irreplaceable national asset given the current regulatory climate and construction costs;

     NOW THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully call on the President of the United States and Congress to ensure the restart and continued operation of the Hanford Fast Flux Test Facility, and preservation of this valuable national asset.

     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable William J. Clinton, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.

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