Independent Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Act of 1999

Summary: Independent Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Act of 1999 - Amends the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to authorize persons holding spent nuclear fuel contracts to offset the expenses of providing storage of such fuel that the Secretary of Energy would have accepted if a facility was available.  Authorizes such offset 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 1999''.

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) approximately 35,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel is 
        currently 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.) has not been 
        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 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, and is currently licensed by the Commission 
        and in operation in ten sites throughout the country;
            (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 No. 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; and
            (10) the increased radioactive decay that will occur in 
        spent nuclear fuel that has been stored for interim periods 
        prior to deliver 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.

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) is amended by inserting at the end thereof the following new 
subsection:
    ``(f)(1) Persons holding contracts under this section may, through 
credits on fee payments under subsection (a)(2), offset the expenses of 
providing storage of spent fuel the Secretary would have accepted if a 
facility was available 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 an amount determined by the Secretary to 
        reflect the cost of storage qualifying under subsection 
        (f)(1).''.