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wind up with as much stuff in the pools as we do now by the time we have emptied out the current inventory to go to Yucca Mountain. Yucca Mountain is a mythological thing when it comes to protecting us in the here and now. I only want to conclude by extending my thanks to Orange County. I do not think you really appreciate the role you have played in pushing an intractable, monolithic institution such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as you have, in coming to terms at least, on paper. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has conceded that there is no decay time at which spent fuel cannot catch fire, that the dense compaction of this fuel will worsen the fire. These are all issues that Orange County forced the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to come to terms with. Last summer, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, true to form, presented a document to the commission requesting some policy changes. They made these acknowledgements, and they also said, "Oh, by the way, our design basis threat for spent fuel is not protected against acts of sabotage." Staff then proceeded to recommend reducing the security, the insurance requirements, and the emergency planning requirements around decommissioning reactors that have spent fuel, closed reactors that have spent fuel. Thank God this was pulled off the table after 9/11. We are at a stage right now where we have a regulator that is a co-dependent with the regulatee. We have a system in our federal government, having worked there in reasonably high levels where I kind of saw some of this going on firsthand, where an event like this (September 11`h) has triggered a lot of competing forces which is leading to paralysis. And we are stuck— us as citizens in forcing the system to do the right thing. And it is very heartening to see people come out for something like this, and I hope that you will keep at it. Thank you very much (applause). Mayor Foy: Thank you Dr. Alvarez. Do we have questions from anyone? Question: I have a question, I think it is for Dr. Lyman, but I have a comment first. Because part of the way through the meeting I got distracted by a comment that was made and I did not appreciate it. And since we are all equal and we all have a right to express our opinion, I respect that opinion, but I also feel like I can voice mine. Mayor Foy asked this speaker to please ask her question and refrain from making the comment because of time. She indicated that the person would hear from her privately. What I would like to know, with all the discussion about the NRC and what it seems to prevent or counteract, certain things that were supposed to be positive, that were supposed to help bring information to the forefront. I was wondering who controls the NRC? It seems like I got the impression that it was doing whatever it wanted to do and there was nothing to regulate the NRC, the NRC was in charge of regulating others, and it's choice was not to regulate anything. Dr. Alvarez: The NRC was set up in 1975 as an independent agency with significant sweeping powers. The most important power was the power to require immediate shutdown of a reactor and the power to impose severe penalties, both civil and criminal upon licensees who operate reactors. What has happened over a period of several years, but made worse in recent years, is that this agency has become captive of the industry it is supposed to regulate. It meets on a regular basis in secrecy with the lobbying arm of this industry, the Nuclear Energy Institute, which boasts about this openly in Washington, DC. The people who are candidates to serve as members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which have limited terms, have to be vetted by the nuclear industry in order to be approved because there were a few occasions where a few independent people snuck in and did things to cause them heartburn. We have a Congress that is so pro-nuclear because of the cash and carry economy of our political system that, as far as I'm concerned, you have to put aluminum borate panels