Independent Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Act of 1994

Summary: Independent Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Act of 1994 - Amends the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to provide that if the Secretary of Energy does not have a facility available to accept high level radioactive wastes or spent nuclear fuel from certain commercial nuclear facilities by a specified deadline, such facilities may offset the expenses of providing storage of spent fuel generated after that date through credits on certain fee payments until the date of the Secretary's first acceptance at an authorized storage or disposal facility.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Independent Spent Nuclear Fuel 
Storage Act of 1994''.

SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Sec. 1. Short title.
Sec. 2. Table of contents.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Findings.
Sec. 5. Amendments to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act--
            (1) the term ``Commission'' means the Nuclear Regulatory 
        Commission; and
            (2) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the 
        Department of Energy.

SEC. 4. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) by 1998, approximately forty-five thousand tons of 
        spent nuclear fuel will be stored at commercial nuclear 
        reactors across the Nation;
            (2) the deep geologic high level radioactive waste and 
        spent nuclear fuel repository envisioned by the Nuclear Waste 
        Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101 et. seq.) will not be 
        constructed in time to permit the Secretary to receive and 
        accept high level radioactive waste or spent nuclear fuel as 
        contemplated by sections 123 and 302 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 
        10143, 10222), with the result that the Secretary will be 
        unable to perform contracts executed pursuant to section 302(a) 
        of that Act with persons who generate or hold title to high 
        level radioactive waste or spent nuclear fuel;
            (3) there have been no orders for the development or 
        construction of civilian nuclear power generating facilities 
        since the enactment of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982; 
        several such facilities that were anticipated when the Act was 
        enacted are not operating now;
            (4) it does not now appear that a deep geologic high level 
        radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel repository will be 
        available before the year 2010 or later;
            (5) by the time a deep geologic repository is available 
        many currently operating commercial nuclear reactors will need 
        spent fuel storage capacity beyond the maximum now available in 
        at-reactor spent fuel storage pools; nuclear utilities have 
        spent and will spend major sums to construct facilities, 
        including dry cask spent fuel storage facilities, for use in 
        the interim before a deep geologic repository is available;
            (6) the sums spent for the purposes described in paragraph 
        (5) are the same funds that commercial nuclear utilities 
        intended to contribute to the Nuclear Waste Fund established by 
        section 302(c) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 
        U.S.C. 10222 (c));
            (7) the technology for long term storage of spent nuclear 
        fuel, including the technology of dry cask storage, has 
        improved dramatically since the enactment of the Nuclear Waste 
        Policy Act of 1982;
            (8) the existing statutory jurisdiction of the Commission, 
        under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2001 et. seq.), 
        the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5801 et. 
        seq.), Executive Order 11834 (42 U.S.C. 5801 note), the Nuclear 
        Regulatory Commission Reorganization Plan Numbered 1 of 1980, 
        and the Commission's various authorization Acts includes the 
        jurisdiction to review and evaluate the spent fuel storage 
        capability of commercial nuclear utilities that hold or seek 
        licenses to receive and possess nuclear materials from the 
        Commission;
            (9) commercial nuclear utilities that hold licenses to 
        receive and possess nuclear materials are generally well suited 
        to maintain the institutional capability necessary to become 
        stewards of spent nuclear fuel during a period of interim 
        storage;
            (10) the increased radioactive decay that will occur in 
        spent nuclear fuel that has been stored for interim periods 
        prior to delivery to the Secretary pursuant to section 123 of 
        the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10143) will 
        ease and facilitate its subsequent handling, transportation, 
        and final disposal; and
            (11) the median estimated cost to commercial nuclear 
        facilities of acquiring or constructing at- reactor dry storage 
        facilities, plus the long term operating cost, is approximately 
        0.56 mil per kilowatt-hour under average industry fuel burnup 
        rates.

SEC. 5. AMENDMENTS TO THE NUCLEAR WASTE POLICY ACT OF 1982.

    Section 302 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 
10222(a)) is amended by inserting at the end thereof the following new 
subsection:
    ``(f)(1) After January 31, 1998, if the Secretary does not have a 
facility available to accept spent fuel from persons holding contracts 
under this section, those persons may, through credits on fee payments 
under subsection (a)(2), offset the expenses of providing storage of 
spent fuel generated after that date (including expenses reasonably 
incurred before that date in anticipation of the necessity of providing 
such storage) and until the date of the Secretary's first acceptance of 
that person's spent fuel at a storage or disposal facility authorized 
by this Act.
    ``(2) The credits described in paragraph (1)--
            ``(A) shall be deducted from each remittance of a person's 
        fee payments to the Nuclear Waste Fund from the time that the 
        person meets the conditions of paragraph (1) until the time 
        that the Secretary first accepts that person's spent fuel at a 
        storage or disposal facility authorized by this Act; and
            ``(B) shall be in the amount of 0.56 mil per kilowatt-hour 
        for electricity generated by the person's civilian nuclear 
        power reactor and sold during the period the person is eligible 
        for the credit, or in such other amount as may be certified to 
        the Secretary by the regulatory authority which establishes the 
        rates charged to customers for electricity generated by the 
        person's civilian nuclear power reactor.''.