II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2176 

To amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to require the President 

to certify that the Yucca Mountain site remains the designated site 

for the development of a repository for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 8, 2012 

Mr. GRAHAM (for himself, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. CHAMBLISS, and 

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to require 

the President to certify that the Yucca Mountain site 

remains the designated site for the development of a 

repository for the disposal of 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nuclear Waste Fund 

5 Relief and Rebate Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CERTIFICATION OF COMMITMENT TO YUCCA MOUN2 TAIN. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle E of title I of the Nuclear 

4 Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10172 et seq.) is 

5 amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 162. CERTIFICATION OF COMMITMENT TO YUCCA 

7 MOUNTAIN SITE. 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF DEFENSE WASTE.—In this sec9 tion, the term ‘defense waste’ means— 

10 ‘‘(1) transuranic waste; 

11 ‘‘(2) high-level radioactive waste; 

12 ‘‘(3) spent nuclear fuel; 

13 ‘‘(4) special nuclear materials; 

14 ‘‘(5) greater-than-class C, low-level radioactive 

15 waste; and 

16 ‘‘(6) any other waste arising from the produc17 tion, storage, or maintenance of nuclear weapons 

18 (including components of nuclear weapons). 

19 ‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION OF COMMITMENT.—Not later 

20 than 30 days after the date of enactment of this section, 

21 the President shall publish in the Federal Register a no22 tice that the President certifies that the Yucca Mountain 

23 site is the selected site for the development of a repository 

24 for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent 

25 nuclear fuel, in accordance with section 160. 


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1 ‘‘(c) FAILURE TO PUBLISH CERTIFICATION; REV2 OCATION OF CERTIFICATION.—If the President fails to 

3 publish the certification of the President in accordance 

4 with subsection (b), or if the President revokes the certifi5 cation of the President after the date described in that 

6 subsection, not later than 1 year after the date described 

7 in subsection (b), or the date of revocation, as appropriate, 

8 and in accordance with subsection (d)— 

9 ‘‘(1) each entity that is required under section 

10 302 to make a payment to the Secretary shall not 

11 be required to make any additional payment; and 

12 ‘‘(2) each entity that has made a payment 

13 under section 302 shall receive from the Secretary of 

14 the Treasury, from amounts available in the Nuclear 

15 Waste Fund, an amount equal to the aggregate 

16 amount of the payments made by the entity (includ17 ing interest on the aggregate amount of the pay18 ments) to the Secretary for deposit in the Nuclear 

19 Waste Fund. 

20 ‘‘(d) USE OF RETURNED PAYMENTS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

22 of the aggregate amount of payments returned to an 

23 entity described in subsection (c)(2)— 


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1 ‘‘(A) 75 percent shall be used by the entity 

2 to provide rebates to ratepayers of the entity; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(B) 25 percent shall be used by the entity 

5 to carry out upgrades to nuclear power facilities 

6 of the entity to enhance the storage and secu7 rity of materials used to generate nuclear 

8 power. 

9 ‘‘(2) DEFENSE WASTE.—In the case of a pay10 ment required to be paid to an entity for the storage 

11 of defense waste, the Secretary shall use the amount 

12 required to be paid to the entity to meet the penalty 

13 payment obligation of the Secretary under sub14 section (e)(2) to the State in which the entity is lo15 cated. 

16 ‘‘(e) DISPOSITION OF DEFENSE WASTE.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than January 1, 

18 2017, the Secretary shall initiate the transportation 

19 of defense waste from each State in which defense 

20 waste is located to the Yucca Mountain site. 

21 ‘‘(2) PENALTY.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara23 graph (B), if the Secretary fails to initiate the 

24 transportation of defense waste in accordance 

25 with paragraph (1), the Secretary shall pay to 


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1 each State in which defense waste is located 

2 $1,000,000 for each day that the defense waste 

3 is located in the State until the date on which 

4 the Secretary initiates the transportation of the 

5 defense waste under paragraph (1). 

6 ‘‘(B) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—Subject to sub7 section (c)(2), for each calendar year, the Sec8 retary shall not pay to any State described in 

9 subparagraph (A) an amount greater than 

10 $100,000,000. 

11 ‘‘(C) REQUIRED USE OF PAYMENTS.—A 

12 State that receives amounts through a payment 

13 from the Secretary under this paragraph shall 

14 use the amounts— 

15 ‘‘(i) to help offset the loss in commu16 nity investments that results from the con17 tinued storage of defense waste in the 

18 State; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) to help mitigate the public health 

20 risks that result from the continued stor21 age of defense waste in the State. 

22 ‘‘(f) DETERMINATION BY COMMISSION TO GRANT OR

23 AMEND LICENSES.—In determining whether to grant or 

24 amend any license to operate any civilian nuclear power 

25 reactor, or high-level radioactive waste or spent fuel storVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:37 Mar 08, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2176.IS S2176

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1 age or treatment facility, under the Atomic Energy Act 

2 of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.), the responsibilities of 

3 the President and the Secretary described in this subtitle 

4 shall be considered to be sufficient and independent 

5 grounds for the Commission to determine the existence of 

6 reasonable assurances that spent nuclear fuel and high7 level radioactive waste would be disposed of safely and in 

8 a timely manner by the entity that is the subject of the 

9 determination. 

10 ‘‘(g) EFFECTS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) TERMINATION OF PAYMENT REQUIRE12 MENT; ACCEPTANCE OF RETURNED PAYMENTS.— 

13 With respect to an entity that receives a benefit 

14 under paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (c)— 

15 ‘‘(A) the entity shall not be considered by 

16 the Commission to be in violation under section 

17 302(b); and 

18 ‘‘(B) the Commission shall not refuse to 

19 take any action with respect to a current or 

20 prospective license of the entity on the grounds 

21 that the entity has cancelled or rescinded a con22 tract to which the entity is a party as the result 

23 of— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the failure by the entity to make 

2 a payment to the Secretary under section 

3 302; or 

4 ‘‘(ii) the acceptance by the entity of 

5 amounts described in subsection (c)(2). 

6 ‘‘(2) DISPOSITION OF WASTE.—Nothing in this 

7 section affects the responsibility of the Federal Gov8 ernment under any Act (including regulations) with 

9 respect to the ultimate disposition of high-level ra10 dioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.’’. 

11 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con12 tents of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 

13 prec. 10101) is amended by adding at the end of the items 

14 relating to subtitle E of title I the following: 

‘‘Sec. 162. Certification of commitment to Yucca Mountain site.’’. 

Æ 


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