Steel and Metal Consumers Radioactivity Protection Act

Summary: Prohibits the NRC and agreement States from taking any action to facilitate, implement, promulgate, or issue any administrative guidance that would allow the free release into commerce of radioactively contaminated scrap metal until such standard has been established.
Mandates that: (1) radioactively contaminated equipment, devices, commodities, and other materials approved for release to persons exempt from NRC licensing requirements be released only pursuant to regulations governing the release of byproduct and source material under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954; and (2) the Departments of Defense and of Energy and all other agencies that oversee or control the release of radioactively contaminated metals adopt standards no less stringent than those established by the NRC.
Directs the U.S. Customs Service to monitor and enforce such standards at U.S. borders. Instructs the Secretary of State to work with international standard-writing bodies to adopt standards consistent with those of the NRC. Sets forth interim certification guidelines governing scrap metal imported into the United States.
Sets forth civil penalties for violations of this Act. Instructs the Secretary of Commerce to present an annual violations list to Congress.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Steel and Metal Consumers 
Radioactivity Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) The metals industry in the United States is a 
        $100,000,000,000 plus industry and employs millions of 
        Americans.
            (2) Because of their unique features, most metals can be 
        recycled over and over again which conserves the world's 
        natural resources and contributes to a healthy environment.
            (3) Metal is an essential component of millions of 
        industrial, business, and consumer products. The presence of 
        radioactive contamination in steel scrap and other metals 
        resulting from the production, utilization, and fabrication of 
        nuclear fuel by the Department of Energy and other facilities 
        poses a risk to public safety, threatens the metals recycling 
        stream, and can cause millions of dollars worth of damage to 
        facilities that unknowingly process contaminated metals.
            (4) The metals industry in the United States desires to 
        keep radioactive contamination resulting from the production, 
        utilization, and fabrication of nuclear fuel by the Department 
        of Energy and other facilities out of its facilities and 
        products.
            (5) Currently there are no approved standards for the 
        unrestricted release of metals containing radioactive 
        contamination in the United States. The American public has 
        rejected all previous attempts by the Nuclear Regulatory 
        Commission to set a standard for such releases. It is expected 
        that American consumers will reject products that contain 
        unknown amounts of radioactive contamination from the 
        Department of Energy and nuclear fuel production, utilization, 
        and fabrication facilities. All such releases are now done only 
        with the specific approval of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
        or its agreement States.
            (6) However, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission currently is 
        deliberating whether there is a need for a rulemaking to set a 
        specified level of radioactive material in scrap and other 
        metal that will be allowed in metals for unrestricted use.
            (7) At present, there is a lack of accountability and a 
        lack of standards regarding radioactive content in metals 
        imported into the United States. The Nuclear Regulatory 
        Commission has no authority to regulate these metals at the 
        time of their importation.

SEC. 3. DUTIES OF FEDERAL AGENCIES.

    (a) Nuclear Regulatory Commission.--
            (1) Standard.--
                    (A) Establishment.--Not later than 24 months after 
                the date of enactment of this Act, the Nuclear 
                Regulatory Commission shall establish, through a 
                rulemaking under chapter 5 of title 5, United States 
                Code (relating to administrative procedures), a 
                standard that controls the free release of 
                radioactively contaminated scrap metal from the 
                Department of Energy or nuclear fuel cycle facilities 
                in order to protect the health and safety of the 
                American consumer.
                    (B) Limitation.-- Until such standard is 
                established, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and 
                agreement States shall not take any action to 
                facilitate, implement, promulgate, or issue a rule or 
                guidance or take any other administrative action that 
                would allow the free release into commerce of 
                radioactively contaminated scrap metal.
            (2) Release of radioactively contaminated equipment, 
        devices, commodities, and other materials.--Effective upon the 
        date of enactment of this Act, all radioactively contaminated 
        equipment, devices, commodities, and other materials approved 
        for general release to persons exempt from licensing by the 
        Nuclear Regulatory Commission or any of its agreement States 
        will be released only under the provisions of the Atomic Energy 
        Act of 1954 and its implementing regulations governing the 
        release of byproduct and source material (as defined in section 
        11 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2014)). The Nuclear Regulatory 
        Commission is prohibited from establishing separate and 
        differing release regulations and standards for equipment, 
        devices, commodities, and other materials which are 
        contaminated during the nuclear fuel production, utilization, 
        and fabrication process from those regulations and standards 
        established for equipment, devices, commodities, and other 
        materials into which byproduct and source material have been 
        deliberately inserted for their beneficial use.
    (b) Departments of Defense and Energy; Environmental Protection 
Agency; Other Agencies.--The Departments of Defense and Energy, the 
Environmental Protection Agency, and all other agencies that have 
oversight or control over the release of radioactively contaminated 
metals shall adopt standards that are no less stringent than the 
standards established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under 
subsection (a). Until such standards are established, the Secretary of 
Energy, the Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of the 
Environmental Protection Agency, and the heads of all other agencies 
that have oversight or control over the release of radioactively 
contaminated metals shall not take any action to facilitate, promote, 
or allow the release into commerce of radioactively contaminated scrap 
metal.
    (c) United States Customs Service.--The United States Customs 
Service shall, within 12 months after establishment of the standard 
under subsection (a), monitor and enforce these standards at the 
borders of the United States.
    (d) Secretary of State.--After the standard is established under 
subsection (a), the Secretary of State shall work with international 
standard-writing bodies to adopt standards consistent with the standard 
established under subsection (a).
    (e) Interim Certifications.--Before the standard established under 
subsection (a) takes effect, all scrap metal imported into the United 
States must be accompanied by documentation--
            (1) stating the amount of radioactive contamination as 
        certified by the government of the exporting country; and
            (2) validating that the metal does not contain any 
        byproduct, source, or any special nuclear material.
Such information shall be readily available as part of the 
documentation and must accompany the shipment of these products. This 
requirement will go into effect 90 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act and the Secretary of Commerce is directed to promulgate a 
final rule implementing this requirement by that date.

SEC. 4. CIVIL PENALTY FOR FALSE DOCUMENTATION.

    Any person who knowingly falsifies any documentation required under 
section 3(e) or required under any standard in effect under section 3 
shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $250,000 for each 
violation.

SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.

    The Secretary of Commerce shall not later than one year after the 
date of enactment of this Act and annually thereafter submit a report 
to the Congress which--
            (1) lists the number of violations of the standards in 
        effect under section 3 and the volume of tons of radioactively 
        contaminated metals involved in each violation reported on; and
            (2) for each violation, lists the number of tons of 
        radioactively contaminated metals involved in each violation 
        reported on, the country of origin of such metals, and the type 
        of metal involved.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act:
            (1) Agreement state.--The term ``agreement State'' means a 
        State that--
                    (A) has entered into an agreement with the Nuclear 
                Regulatory Commission under section 274 of the Atomic 
                Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2021); and
                    (B) has authority to regulate the disposal of low-
                level waste under such agreement.
            (2) Nuclear fuel production, utilization, and fabrication 
        facility.--The term ``nuclear fuel production, utilization, and 
        fabrication facility'' means--
                    (A) any nuclear reactor, including those designed 
                or used primarily for the formation of plutonium or 
                uranium-233;
                    (B) any facility, equipment, or device designed or 
                used for the separation of the isotopes of plutonium, 
                except laboratory scale facilities designed or used for 
                experimental or analytical purposes only; or
                    (C) any facility, equipment, or device designed or 
                used for processing irradiated materials containing 
                special nuclear material or byproduct material, 
                except--
                            (i) laboratory scale facilities designed or 
                        used for experimental or analytical purposes; 
                        and
                            (ii) facilities in which processing is 
                        conducted pursuant to a license issued under 
                        parts 30 and 70 of title 10 of the Code of 
                        Federal Regulations or the equivalent 
                        regulations of an agreement State for the 
                        receipt, possession, use, and transfer of 
                        irradiated special nuclear material, which 
                        license authorizes the processing of the 
                        irradiated materials on a batch basis for the 
                        separation of selected fission products and 
                        limits the process batch to not more than 100 
                        grams of uranium enriched in the isotope 235 
                        and not more than 15 grams of any other special 
                        nuclear material.
            (3) Radioactively contaminated.--The term ``radioactively 
        contaminated'' means any material containing residual levels of 
        radiological contamination involving any source material, by-
        product material, or special nuclear material as defined in 
        section 11 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2014) or 
        any waste derived therefrom.
            (4) Scrap metal.--The term ``scrap metal'' means ferrous or 
        non-ferrous metal equipment, vehicles, tools, and other metal 
        items (including metal pieces, parts, and bits) that are no 
        longer being used for their original purpose and are destined 
        to be processed as feedstock to produce new metal materials and 
        products.