dr. scowcroft outlines which is to work through the -- >> thanks so much. mr. wright? >> from what i heard, i tend to agree. i believe with a lot of what he's laid out. i mean, i think it's sensible. >> mr. howes? >> i would agree that what he's laid out makes a good deal of sense. >> okay. mr. metlay? dr. metlay? >> i would certainly agree, and my board has certainly taken the position that there are no technical impediments to developing a repository. >> another question for you dr. metlay. you mentioned in your testimony that u.s. nuclear waste negotiator, which was established, i think, in a 1987 amendment to the nuclear waste policy act. i don't think you mentioned this in your testimony. but take a minute if you will and talk more about the negotiators' intended role and is this something that we should or could pursue this time around? if you could. and be fairly brief in your response. >> excuse me? >> be brief in your response. >> certainly. the negotiators, as you said, was established as part of the 1987 amendments act. he was given a broad charter to negoti

room just a few days ago with the -- several members, including brent scowcroft from the blue ribbon commission on which you served, dr. macfarlane. and the discussion dealt with spent fuel is not going to end up in yucca mountain. how do we go forward and find a place that is suitable? this country, or places that are suitable in this country? and senator alexander, we both served adds as governors and we had to be concerned among other things where to site prisons. not an easy thing to do in a small state like delaware, and not in other states. as it turns out, there were states that literally competed for a right to become a repository if you will for people that violated the law in our state and were incarcerated. and we had a competition that flowed from that situation. in a consent-based approach which is what the blue ribbon is suggesting, really makes a lot of sense to me in whether regardless what happens with yucca mountain, we have to learn from that, that experience, and just be a whole lot smarter going forward as we prepare to take next steps. how might we incentivize other states, other localities to be