Federal Integrated Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste Management Act of 1994

Summary: Federal Integrated Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste Management Act of 1994 - Amends the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to instruct the Secretary of Energy to begin taking possession and providing for the removal from existing storage facilities of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel by a specified deadline.  Transfers title to such waste or spent fuel to the Secretary at the time of its Federal removal or possession. 
Directs the Secretary to:  (1) establish a Federal Integrated Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste Management Program to implement such directive; and (2) submit annual status reports to the Congress.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Integrated Spent Fuel and 
High-Level Waste Management Act of 1994''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Congressional Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The transportation, storage, and disposal of high-level 
        radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel is a matter of 
        national urgency that is the responsibility of this generation.
            (2) The utility generators and owners of high-level 
        radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, together with their 
        customers, have met, and will continue to meet, their 
        obligations under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to 
        provide for the cost of siting, licensing, construction, and 
        operation of a Federal waste management system.
            (3) Some utilities have now exhausted their spent nuclear 
        fuel pool storage capacity, a total of 26 nuclear power 
        reactors will reach their spent nuclear fuel pool storage 
        capacity by the end of 1998, and approximately 80 nuclear power 
        reactors will be without spent nuclear fuel pool storage 
        capacity by 2010. As a result, utility rate payers face 
        significant costs associated with expanding storage capacity at 
        reactor sites, and continued delay is unacceptable.
            (4) Federal efforts to site, license, construct, and 
        operate disposal facilities in accordance with the provisions 
        of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 have not met the 
        timetables contemplated by such Act.
            (5) The Secretary of Energy has a clear and unconditional 
        obligation to take possession of and title to high-level 
        radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel beginning not later 
        than January 31, 1998.
            (6) Notwithstanding the passage of 12 years since enactment 
        of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, the payment of more 
        than $8,400,000,000 into the Nuclear Waste Fund during such 
        period, and the additional programmatic direction provided by 
        the Congress in the 1987 amendments to such Act, the projected 
        date of commencement of operations at a repository is, under 
        the most optimistic of assumptions, 2010.
            (7) Until a repository is operational, interim storage will 
        continue to be required for high-level radioactive waste and 
        spent nuclear fuel.
            (8) In light of the obligation of the Secretary of Energy 
        to accept high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel 
        beginning not later than January 31, 1998, the Secretary must 
        establish an interim storage facility for such waste and spent 
        fuel by such date.
    (b) Statement of Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are the 
following:
            (1) To specify with certainty the obligation of the Federal 
        Government to take possession of and title to high-level 
        radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel and provide for its 
        timely and safe transportation, storage, and disposal.
            (2) To provide the Secretary of Energy with additional 
        incentives and means for succeeding in the siting, licensing, 
        construction, and operation of Federal facilities for the 
        storage and disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent 
        nuclear fuel.
            (3) To require the Secretary of Energy to establish an 
        interim storage facility for high-level radioactive waste and 
        spent nuclear fuel of domestic origin by January 31, 1998, for 
        the purpose of fulfilling the obligation of the Federal 
        Government under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.

SEC. 3. FEDERAL OBLIGATION TO TAKE POSSESSION OF AND TITLE TO HIGH-
              LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL.

    Section 302(a) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 
10222(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(7)(A)(i) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act or 
other law, the terms of the contracts entered into pursuant to this 
section, or the commencement of operations of a repository, the 
Secretary shall, by not later than January 31, 1998, begin taking 
possession and providing for the removal from existing storage 
facilities of the high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel 
covered by such contracts.
    ``(ii) A means of fulfilling the obligation set forth in clause (i) 
shall be the Federal Integrated Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste 
Management Program established in section 162.
    ``(B) The Secretary shall take possession and provide for the 
removal of the high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel 
referred to in subparagraph (A) in accordance with the acceptance 
priority ranking as required by the contracts entered into pursuant to 
this section.
    ``(C) As any high-level radioactive waste or spent nuclear fuel 
referred to in subparagraphs (A) and (B) comes into the possession of, 
and is removed by, the Secretary, title to such waste or spent fuel 
shall transfer to the Secretary.''.

SEC. 4. FEDERAL INTEGRATED SPENT FUEL AND HIGH-LEVEL WASTE MANAGEMENT 
              PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Subtitle E of title I of the Nuclear Waste Policy 
Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10172 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following new section:

``federal integrated spent fuel and high-level waste management program

    ``Sec. 162. (a) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish and 
administer in accordance with this section a Federal Integrated Spent 
Fuel and High-Level Waste Management Program as a means of fulfilling, 
in a safe, efficient, and cost-effective manner, the responsibility of 
the Federal Government to take possession and provide for the removal 
from existing storage facilities of, and take title to, high-level 
radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel as provided in section 
302(a)(7), and to provide for the management of high-level radioactive 
waste and spent nuclear fuel in accordance with subsection (b).
    ``(b) Components of Program.--The Federal Integrated Spent Fuel and 
High-Level Waste Management Program shall include the following 
components:
            ``(1) Development and use of a multipurpose canister system 
        or systems for the transportation, storage, and disposal of 
        spent nuclear fuel.
            ``(2) Development of the transportation infrastructure 
        required to carry out the storage and disposal of high-level 
        radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel in accordance with the 
        Program.
            ``(3) Establishment of an interim storage facility for 
        high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, consistent 
        with applicable licensing and environmental protection 
        requirements, by not later than January 31, 1998.
            ``(4) Disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent 
        nuclear fuel in a repository developed under this Act.
    ``(c) Progress Reports.--The Secretary shall submit to the 
Congress, not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of 
this section and annually thereafter, a comprehensive progress report 
with specific details of how the Secretary is implementing the Federal 
Integrated Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste Management Program. Each 
report shall also include a list of recommendations for the continued 
successful implementation of the Program and any proposed implementing 
legislation. Prior to submission of any such report, the Secretary 
shall publish in the Federal Register a notice of the availability of a 
draft of the report, and shall solicit comments from interested 
parties.''.