II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2610 

To enhance the management and disposal of spent nuclear fuel and highlevel radioactive waste, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 7, 2006 

Mr. INHOFE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To enhance the management and disposal of spent nuclear 

fuel and high-level radioactive waste, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS FROM NUCLEAR WASTE POLICY 

4 ACT OF 1982. 

5 In this Act, the terms ‘‘Commission’’, ‘‘disposal’’, 

6 ‘‘high-level radioactive waste’’, ‘‘repository’’, ‘‘Secretary’’, 

7 ‘‘State’’, ‘‘spent nuclear fuel’’, and ‘‘Yucca Mountain site’’ 

8 have the meanings given those terms in section 2 of the 

9 Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101). 


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1 SEC. 2. APPLICATION PROCEDURES AND INFRASTRUCTURE 

2 ACTIVITIES. 

3 (a) APPLICATION.—Section 114(b) of the Nuclear 

4 Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10134(b)) is amend5 ed— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘If the President’’ and inserting 

7 the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the President’’; and 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following 

10 ‘‘(2) REQUIRED INFORMATION.—An application 

11 for construction authorization shall not be required 

12 to contain information relating to any surface facil13 ity other than surface facilities necessary for initial 

14 operation of the repository.’’. 

15 (b) APPLICATION PROCEDURES AND INFRASTRUC16 TURE ACTIVITIES.—Section 114(d) of the Nuclear Waste 

17 Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10134(d)) is amended— 

18 (1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘The Com19 mission shall consider’’ and inserting the following: 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall con21 sider’’; 

22 (2) by striking the last 2 sentences; and 

23 (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) (as des24 ignated by paragraph (1)) the following: 

25 ‘‘(2) AMENDMENTS TO APPLICATION FOR CON26 STRUCTION AUTHORIZATION.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If the Commission ap2 proves an application for construction author3 ization and the Secretary submits an applica4 tion to amend the authorization to obtain per5 mission to receive and possess spent nuclear 

6 fuel and high-level radioactive waste, or to un7 dertake any other action concerning the reposi8 tory, the Commission shall consider the applica9 tion using expedited, informal procedures, in10 cluding discovery procedures that minimize the 

11 burden on the parties to produce documents 

12 that the Commission does not need to render a 

13 decision on an action under this section. 

14 ‘‘(B) FINAL DECISION.—The Commission 

15 shall issue a final decision on whether to grant 

16 permission to receive and possess spent nuclear 

17 fuel and high-level radioactive waste, or on any 

18 other application, by the date that is 1 year 

19 after the date of submission of the application, 

20 except that the Commission may extend that 

21 deadline by not more than 180 days if, not less 

22 than 30 days before the deadline, the Commis23 sion complies with the reporting requirements 

24 under subsection (e)(2). 

25 ‘‘(3) INFRASTRUCTURE ACTIVITIES.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—At any time before or 

2 after the Commission issues a final decision on 

3 an application from the Secretary for construc4 tion authorization under this subsection, the 

5 Secretary may undertake infrastructure activi6 ties that the Secretary determines to be nec7 essary or appropriate to support construction or 

8 operation of a repository at the Yucca Moun9 tain site or transportation to the Yucca Moun10 tain site of spent nuclear fuel and high level ra11 dioactive waste, including infrastructure activi12 ties such as— 

13 ‘‘(i) safety upgrades; 

14 ‘‘(ii) site preparation; 

15 ‘‘(iii) the construction of a rail line to 

16 connect the Yucca Mountain site with the 

17 national rail network, including any facili18 ties to facilitate rail operations; and 

19 ‘‘(iv) construction, upgrade, acquisi20 tion, or operation of electrical grids or fa21 cilities, other utilities, communication fa22 cilities, access roads, rail lines, and non23 nuclear support facilities. 

24 ‘‘(B) COMPLIANCE.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary 

2 shall comply with all applicable require3 ments under the National Environmental 

4 Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 

5 seq.) with respect to an infrastructure ac6 tivity undertaken under this paragraph. 

7 ‘‘(ii) EIS.—If the Secretary deter8 mines that an environmental impact state9 ment or similar analysis under the Na10 tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 is 

11 required in connection with an infrastruc12 ture activity undertaken under this para13 graph, the Secretary shall not be required 

14 to consider the need for the action, alter15 native actions, or a no-action alternative. 

16 ‘‘(iii) OTHER AGENCIES.— 

17 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—To the extent 

18 that a Federal agency is required to 

19 consider the potential environmental 

20 impact of an infrastructure activity 

21 undertaken under this paragraph, the 

22 Federal agency shall adopt, to the 

23 maximum extent practicable, an envi24 ronmental impact statement or similar 


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1 analysis prepared under this para2 graph without further action. 

3 ‘‘(II) EFFECT OF ADOPTION OF

4 STATEMENT.—Adoption of an envi5 ronmental impact statement or similar 

6 analysis described in subclause (I) 

7 shall be considered to satisfy the re8 sponsibilities of the adopting agency 

9 under the National Environmental 

10 Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 

11 et seq.), and no further action for the 

12 activity covered by the statement or 

13 analysis shall be required by the agen14 cy. 

15 ‘‘(C) DENIALS OF AUTHORIZATION.—The 

16 Commission may not deny construction author17 ization, permission to receive and possess spent 

18 nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste, or 

19 any other action concerning the repository on 

20 the ground that the Secretary undertook an in21 frastructure activity under this paragraph.’’. 

22 (c) CONNECTED ACTIONS.—Section 114(f)(6) of the 

23 Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 

24 10134(f)(6)) is amended— 

25 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’; and 


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1 (2) by inserting before the period at the end the 

2 following: ‘‘, or an action connected or otherwise re3 lating to the repository, to the extent the action is 

4 undertaken outside the geologic repository oper5 ations area and does not require a license from the 

6 Commission’’. 

7 (d) EXPEDITED AUTHORIZATIONS.—Section 120 of 

8 the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10140) 

9 is amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (a)(1)— 

11 (A) in the first sentence, by inserting ‘‘, or 

12 the conduct of an infrastructure activity,’’ after 

13 ‘‘repository’’; 

14 (B) by inserting ‘‘, State, local, or tribal’’ 

15 after ‘‘Federal’’ each place it appears; and 

16 (C) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘re17 positories’’ and inserting ‘‘a repository or infra18 structure activity’’; 

19 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘, and may in20 clude terms and conditions permitted by law’’; and 

21 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(c) FAILURE TO GRANT AUTHORIZATION.—An 

23 agency or officer that fails to grant authorization by the 

24 date that is 1 year after the date of receipt of an applica25 tion or request from the Secretary subject to subsection 


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1 (a) shall submit to Congress a written report that explains 

2 the reason for not meeting that deadline or rejecting the 

3 application or request. 

4 ‘‘(d) TREATMENT OF ACTIONS.—For the purpose of 

5 applying any Federal, State, local, or tribal law or require6 ment, the taking of an action relating to a repository or 

7 an infrastructure activity shall be considered to be— 

8 ‘‘(1) beneficial, and not detrimental, to the pub9 lic interest and interstate commerce; and 

10 ‘‘(2) consistent with the public convenience and 

11 necessity.’’. 

12 SEC. 3. REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS. 

13 (a) MATERIAL REQUIREMENTS.—Notwithstanding 

14 any other provision of law, no Federal, State, interstate, 

15 or local requirement, either substantive or procedural, that 

16 is referred to in section 6001(a) of the Solid Waste Dis17 posal Act (42 U.S.C. 6961(a)), applies to— 

18 (1) any material owned by the Secretary, if the 

19 material is transported or stored in a package, cask, 

20 or other container that the Commission has certified 

21 for transportation or storage of that type of mate22 rial; or 

23 (2) any material located at the Yucca Mountain 

24 site for disposal, if the management and disposal of 


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1 the material is subject to a license issued by the 

2 Commission. 

3 (b) PERMITS.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Environmental Protec5 tion Agency shall be the permitting agency for pur6 poses of issuing, administering, or enforcing any new 

7 or existing air quality permit or requirement applica8 ble to a Federal facility that is subject to the Nu9 clear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101 et 

10 seq.). 

11 (2) STATE AND LOCAL ACTIVITY.—A State or 

12 unit of local government shall not issue, administer, 

13 or enforce a new or existing air quality permit or re14 quirement affecting a Federal facility or activity that 

15 is subject to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 

16 (42 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.). 

17 SEC. 4. CONFIDENCE IN AVAILABILITY OF WASTE DIS18 POSAL. 

19 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in decid20 ing whether to permit the construction or operation of a 

21 nuclear reactor or any related facilities, the Commission 

22 shall deem, without further consideration, that sufficient 

23 capacity will be available in a timely manner to dispose 

24 of the spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste 


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1 resulting from the operation of the reactor and related fa2 cilities. 

Æ 


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