4. Senate floor amendment to prohibit federal nuclear weapons waste disposal in Texas (defeated 19 to 11)
This amendment was very similar to the amendment raised in the House (see amendment #1 above).

5. Senate floor amendment to limit federal nuclear weapons waste to 1.3 million cubic yards (passed 16 to 14)
Senator Duncan attempted to cap the amount of federal nuclear weapons waste that could be disposed of in Texas at 1.3 million cubic yards(or 35 million cubic feet). This would still allow the private nuclear waste dump operator the ability to make an estimated $1 billion dollars in revenue. Senator Bivins argued that no private company would apply for the license if they weren’t allowed the opportunity to bring in more waste, and thus make more profit. However, Sen. Duncan succeeded in getting enough votes to support the cap. Unfortunately, the vote on this amendment was subsequently reconsidered and Sen. Wentworth and Sen. Bivins were able to get enough votes to raise the cap to 6 million cubic yards of waste (or 162 million cubic feet).

6. Motion to reconsider vote on federal waste cap amendment (passed 20 to 9)
After Sen. Duncan passed his amendment to limit federal nuclear weapons waste to 1.3 million cubic yards, the Waste Control Specialists lobbyists were very upset. Within a half an hour, Sen. Ratliff made a motion to reconsider, or “re-do” the vote on the Duncan cap.

7. Senate floor amendment to lift federal waste cap to 6 million cubic feet (passed 18 to 12)
Sen. Wentworth introduced an amendment to raise the cap on federal waste from 1.3 million cubic yards to 6 million cubic yards. This would allow the private dump operator to make $3.3 billion dollars in revenue from the dump-site. Sen. Duncan argued strenuously against this cap, but did not prevail in maintaining the votes he had on the original cap.

8. Senate vote for final passage of the bill (passed 23 to 7)