address some of the items that each of you raised in your opening statements.

I have prepared a more detailed written statement which I would like to submit for the record.

The Department places high priority on assuring that nuclear energy continues to contribute to a strong, stable, and secure national energy base to meet both civilian and military requirements. Our commitment to nuclear energy remains strong. Our reactor development programs to help preserve the nuclear option and our execution of a reliable, competitive, and businesslike uranium enrichment enterprise are an integral part of our commitment.

The Department also remains strongly committed to protecting public health and safety and to assuring a safe and clean environment in connection with its activities. Our remedial action in waste technology efforts are an integral part of that commitment.

The funding levels for our various programs are tabulated in our prepared statement, and I won't repeat them. While the overall fiscal year 1987 budget request for nuclear energy supply R&D programs increases slightly from the fiscal year 1986 estimate, there have been several shifts in relative funding levels for individual programs. Within an essentially level budget, our funding request for nuclear energy R&D has decreased about $46 million, while funding for remedial actions in waste technology has increased by some $64 million compared to fiscal year 1986. And I will speak to some of the reasons for that.

There are several key factors that have influenced the formulation of our program and budget request. First, the Department is fully committed to support the bipartisan effort to control and reduce the Federal deficit. In this environment of fiscal constraint, we are constantly faced with difficult choices among deserving programs. And although it may appear to some that worthwhile R&D elements have been significantly reduced, we believe that each of our programs is focused to make optimum use of our limited re

sources.

Second, the space and defense nuclear energy needs are increasing. Some of these activities have progressed from the design and screening phase into the more funding-intensive hardware phase. These activities are an essential part and a top national priority. Accordingly, our funding request for these efforts in our nuclear energy R&D programs has increased in fiscal year 1987 just as previously planned, not with an unplanned increase.

Third, our civilian reactor research and development program is more sharply focused. Last year we testified to our conviction that the institutional and technical impediments to the near-term deployment of light-water reactors must be overcome before there would be a good chance to realize the potential of advanced reactors, which we must also do.

Our light-water reactor R&D program is focused on essential research and development which can help facilitate efforts by U.S. industry to usher in a new, advanced generation of nuclear powerplants. The time is ripe for the completion of development of certification of advanced state-of-the-art LWR designs.

Certainly, the currently anticipated timing for commercial introduction of innovative reactor technologies beyond light-water reac

tors has been stretched out. We have made excellent progress in our HTGR and LMR design work in the past 2 to 3 years, and our focus is now upon key features affecting the economic, passive safety and technical issues of these concepts, to preserve their potential for the future.

Fourth, the remedial action waste technology budget request increase of $64 million, compared to our fiscal year 1986 estimate, is up but is less than the previously planned ramp-up for these ongoing projects. The program objectives can be achieved at this level of funding by extending the authorization period for the Department's uranium mill tailings remedial action program from March 1990 until the end of fiscal year 1993.

Finally, the uranium enrichment budget request reflects several strategic decisions made by the Department during the past year. We will discuss these latter two programs in greater detail in subsequent hearings.

Now, against this background, let me turn to a few of the key issues and highlights of our nuclear energy R&D programs.

The Department has provided R&D support for both the defense and civilian nuclear energy areas for decades, and both areas will continue to be served by these proposed programs. It is our intent to integrate and coordinate these efforts to the maximum extent practical so as to minimize overall cost.

The priority of defense nuclear energy programs for military applications has not changed. These programs that are related to SDI have expanded and moved ahead as planned, while overall funding stringencies have tightened. Therefore, in the face of the urgent need to reduce Government outlays, the Department has recommended an adjustment in the pace of the advanced civilian reactor development program consistent with anticipated needs.

Turning now to the light-water reactor program; from the experience which has been accumulated to date on light-water reactor research, design, construction, operation, and regulation, it's evident that major national benefits can be realized by near-term advancements in each of these areas.

The technical support for demonstrated removal of the remaining technical, licensing, and institutional impediments for the next generation of LWR's, as well as for innovative advanced reactors, is a key objective of our R&D programs.

A key milestone in the pursuit of this objective will be to achieve NRC certification of at least two advanced LWR systems within the next 5 years. Continuation of the LWR severe-accident technology program provides the basis for further evaluation of fuel damage tests conducted under cooperative international programs.

The overall goal is to develop a severe-accident methodology that incorporates results of all recent experimental work. Effective technical consensus in this area is crucial to the more rational regulation and a better understanding of requirements for emergency preparedness at both the local and Federal levels.

In addition, risk-based licensing techniques, will be developed and coordinated with the NRC's policy on severe accidents. General agreement has been reached on the use of risk-based techniques, and their application in the regulatory process is growing. What re

mains to be done is to apply these techniques in the consideration of design choices for future reactors.

Work on advanced LWR's also includes the R&D needed to bring forward a new generation of midsized light-water reactors. With today's pattern of future load growth rates being lower, plants with smaller than 1,000-megawatt ratings and lower total capital costs may be required to meet utility needs.

These designs would incorporate some key innovative design features that could be less sensitive to changes in regulatory requirements and could also offer reduced construction periods and reduced total plants costs. Features such as passive safety are an inherent part of that.

Because of the relatively large resources needed to develop such designs and the uncertain potential for payoff, these innovative midsize LWR concepts have been developed to only a very preliminary stage. Federal as well as private sector efforts are really needed to work in concert to assure that they can be developed to a stage where their potential can be adequately assessed.

Therefore, in fiscal years 1986 and 1987, the Department, through competitive contracting, and cooperation with EPRI, will be providing selected cost-shared technology support for these advanced designs. I am pleased to report that an initial selection of technical proposals has recently been made. Considerable industry interest was expressed in participating in these cost-sharing programs that will bring innovations in LWR technology and help assure that future nuclear powerplants can be built on schedule, within budget, and conform with the degree of safety and reliability that our citizens have every right to expect.

Likewise, this fiscal year, next fiscal year, and including in 1988, the Department will complete its important R&D contributions to the recovery of the Three Mile Island plant No. 2 incident that occurred in 1979, providing valuable data for the whole nuclear industry.

Turning now to our advanced reactor research and development program; at the request of the Secretary, the Energy Research Advisory Board convened a civilian nuclear power panel in October 1985 to review and comment on the Office of Nuclear Energy's draft strategic plan for civilian reactor development. The essence of that draft plan is to establish an agenda of requisite actions and tasks to develop advanced reactor systems that can be acceptable and competitive in a future civilian market.

While the pace of the program to fulfill that agenda must be adjusted to accommodate the national priorities and funding constraints we have noted, it is the Department's intent to continue to operate our unique liquid-metal reactor test facilities and to conduct the R&D leading to licensing and potential commercial deployment of these advanced reactor systems at an appropriate time in the future.

In the current fiscal year, work will continue on the development of LMR and HTGR designs and their supporting R&D activities. Fiscal year 1987 will see a further focusing of our effort on key economic and safety aspects of these designs. The advanced reactor program for fiscal year 1987 and beyond will build on the substantial progress made in this program over the past few years.

Passive safety features are being incorporated into the advanced reactor designs to reduce the likelihood and consequence of plant failures. Key related activities will be the completion of transient tests in the fast flux test facility and transient overpower tests in the EBR-II reactor.

The safety systems design activity incorporates the integration of state-of-the-art technology in communications, controls, and operations into advanced reactor designs. The advanced fuel cycle activities will continue the progress made toward the objective of extending core life to at least 3 years, noting that the potential exists to achieve much longer core lifetimes with the attendant economic benefits.

The objective of the advanced metal fuels work is to establish technical feasibility, to improve safety margins, fuel cycle costs, and onsite reprocessing.

As I have noted, and as we are all concerned, the advanced civilian reactor development program has embarked on a course to complete the development of advanced nuclear systems, in conjunction with industry that will meet market demands. We believe we can stay ahead of our best estimate of the market need even with the reduced funding levels.

Our rate of progress on that course, however, has been tempered by fiscal constraint, but we have made important progress and our resolve to meet our objectives remains undiminished.

I would like to turn now to our space and defense nuclear energy programs. As you know, this segment of our program is structured to respond to requirements identified by NASA and the Department of Defense, including the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization. These cost shared program activities will provide the design, development, and supporting technology to build compact, high-performance reactors for space and terrestrial applications and dynamic isotope power systems for space application.

In view of the detailed hearings held by this subcommittee on these matters last fall, I will only briefly highlight these efforts today.

I would note, Madam Chairman, that we do appreciate the subcommittee's thoughtful and supportive report which was based on those previous hearings.

The first phase of the joint DOE-NASA-DOE SP-100 program culminated with the selection of a concept for further engineering, development, and demonstration testing. During the next phase, which we call the ground engineering tests, the selected concept will be designed and built and tested at a reference power of 300 kilowatts electric.

As you are aware, last November we selected the Hanford, WA, facility as the preferred site at which to conduct this reactor ground demonstration testing. And efforts to select a system design integration contractor are currently underway.

This 300-kilowatt electric SP-100 nuclear electric propulsion flight demonstration for SDI in the early 1990's was established in September 1985. This so-called reference mission will serve to demonstrate and flight qualify SP-100 for dedicated mission use. We expect preliminary mission planning to be completed in mid-1986,

and SDIO is including planned flight demonstration in their outyear demonstrations

But the need for space-based defense weapons and surveillance systems for protection against the threat of missiles has been established as a top national priority, and the proposed systems and surveillance-proposed weapons and surveillance systems-will require a large amount of electrical power, more than can be provided by current power systems. Therefore, as a key objective of our multimegawatt space nuclear power program, we wish to identify and develop at least one space nuclear power concept by 1991 that alone or in combination with other power systems will meet SDI's multimegawatt power requirements.

The particular fiscal year 1987 effort will continue the evaluation and development of multimegawatt space power concepts, and work will continue on development and testing of the enabling technology. This effort will focus on nuclear fuels and materials, safety and reliability and will require the use of our test facilities. Turning now to the small nuclear power source demonstration project, nuclear reactor technology appears to offer alternatives to conventional power systems for such applications as the North Warning System, which is the upgrade of the DEW line across northern Canada. In fiscal year 1987 tests are aimed at ensuring that nuclear and heat pipe subassemblies will verify the performance of this subsystem. At that point, the complete system will be installed in a test cell at the atomic energy of Canada's Whiteshell facility and systems startup tests will be initiated in fiscal year 1988.

Separately, in response to interest by the Air Force as well as by the SDIO, an effort is underway which will lead to the design of a hardened nuclear powerplant with a nominal 10-megawatt electric rating. This plant will feature a passively safe design, a capacity factor in excess of 90 percent, with fueling intervals which could range from 4 to 10 years, and will be hardened against military threats.

SDI has expressed interest in such a plant for its ground-based applications. These applications include the command, control, and communications systems which must operate reliably in a hostile environment if the total SDI system is to be effective. We will bring you up to date on the progress.

A request for proposals for advanced design of this plant has been prepared. In late fiscal year 1986 up to two concepts will be selected for detailed design, and the preliminary design should be completed near the end of fiscal year 1987 or early fiscal year 1988. You are also well aware, in our advanced nuclear systems program, that our responsibility is to develop, demonstrate, and deliver radioisotope power sources to the U.S. military and civilian space and terrestrial missions. Since you are planning a separate hearing on that subject next week, I think I will not dwell on that aspect of the program in any greater detail.

Mrs. LLOYD. We will get into that at that hearing in greater detail.

Mr. VAUGHAN. Turning now to our facilities, I think you are well aware that DOE and its contractors do operate some of the most advanced and sophisticated nuclear test facilities in the world.