II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2099 

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

nuclear utilities to transfer spent nuclear fuel from spent nuclear fuel 

pools into spent nuclear fuel dry casks and convey to the Secretary 

of Energy title to all spent nuclear fuel thus safely stored. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 14, 2005 

Mr. REID (for himself, Mr. ENSIGN, Mr. BENNETT, and Mr. HATCH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to require 

commercial nuclear utilities to transfer spent nuclear 

fuel from spent nuclear fuel pools into spent nuclear 

fuel dry casks and convey to the Secretary of Energy 

title to all spent nuclear fuel thus safely stored. 

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 ‘‘Spent Nuclear Fuel 

5 On-Site Storage Security Act of 2005’’. 
2 

•S 2099 IS

1 SEC. 2. DRY CASK STORAGE OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Nuclear Waste Pol3 icy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10121 et seq.) is amended 

4 by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘Subtitle I—Dry Cask Storage of 

6 Spent Nuclear Fuel 

7 ‘‘SEC. 185. DRY CASK STORAGE OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL. 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 ‘‘(1) CONTRACTOR.—The term ‘contractor’ 

10 means a person that holds a contract under section 

11 302(a). 

12 ‘‘(2) SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL POOL.—The term 

13 ‘spent nuclear fuel pool’ means a water-filled con14 tainer in which spent nuclear fuel rods are stored. 

15 ‘‘(3) SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL DRY CASK.—The 

16 term ‘spent nuclear fuel dry cask’ means the con17 tainer, and all the components and systems associ18 ated with the container, in which spent nuclear fuel 

19 is stored at a Commission-licensed independent 

20 spent fuel storage facility located at the power reac21 tor site. The design of any such spent nuclear fuel 

22 dry cask shall be approved by the Commission. 

23 ‘‘(b) TRANSFER OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A contractor shall transfer 

25 spent nuclear fuel from spent nuclear fuel pools to 

26 spent nuclear fuel dry casks at a Commission-li-
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1 censed independent spent fuel storage facility located 

2 at the power reactor site. 

3 ‘‘(2) SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL STORED AS OF

4 DATE OF ENACTMENT.—A contractor shall complete 

5 the transfer of all spent nuclear fuel that is stored 

6 in spent nuclear fuel pools as of the date of enact7 ment of this subsection not later than 6 years after 

8 the date of enactment of this subsection. 

9 ‘‘(3) SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL STORED AFTER

10 DATE OF ENACTMENT.—A contractor shall complete 

11 the transfer of any spent nuclear fuel that is stored 

12 in a spent nuclear fuel pool after the date of enact13 ment of this subsection not later than 6 years after 

14 the date on which the spent nuclear fuel is dis15 charged from the reactor. 

16 ‘‘(4) INADEQUATE FUNDS.—If funds are not 

17 available to complete a transfer under paragraph (2) 

18 or (3), the contractor may apply to the Commission 

19 to extend the deadline for the transfer to be com20 pleted. 

21 ‘‘(c) FUNDING.—The Secretary shall make grants to 

22 compensate a contractor for expenses incurred in carrying 

23 out subsection (b), including costs associated with— 
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1 ‘‘(1) licensing and construction of an inde2 pendent spent fuel storage facility located at the 

3 power reactor site; 

4 ‘‘(2) construction and delivery of spent nuclear 

5 fuel dry casks; 

6 ‘‘(3) transfers of spent nuclear fuel; 

7 ‘‘(4) documentation relating to the transfers; 

8 ‘‘(5) security; and 

9 ‘‘(6) hardening. 

10 ‘‘(d) CONVEYANCE OF TITLE.— 

11 ‘‘(1) DETERMINATION.—Not later than 30 days 

12 after the transfer of spent nuclear fuel from a spent 

13 nuclear fuel pool to a spent nuclear fuel dry cask, 

14 the Commission shall determine whether the con15 tractor carried out the transfer in full compliance 

16 with regulations promulgated by the Commission. 

17 ‘‘(2) NONCOMPLIANCE.—If the Commission de18 termines that any technical standard or compliance 

19 provision under the regulations was not complied 

20 with, the Commission shall— 

21 ‘‘(A) notify the contractor; and 

22 ‘‘(B) take such actions as are necessary to 

23 obtain full compliance. 
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1 ‘‘(3) CERTIFICATION AND CONVEYANCE OF

2 TITLE.—When the Commission determines that the 

3 contractor has fully complied with the regulations— 

4 ‘‘(A) the Commission shall certify that safe 

5 transfer has been accomplished; and 

6 ‘‘(B) the Secretary shall accept the convey7 ance of title to the spent nuclear fuel dry cask 

8 (including the contents of the cask) from the 

9 contractor. 

10 ‘‘(4) RESPONSIBILITY.—A conveyance of title 

11 under paragraph (3)(B) shall confer on the Sec12 retary full responsibility (including financial respon13 sibility) for the possession, stewardship, mainte14 nance, and monitoring of all spent nuclear fuel 

15 transferred to the Secretary.’’. 

16 (b) FUNDING.—Section 302(d) of the Nuclear Waste 

17 Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10222(d)) is amended— 

18 (1) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

19 end; 

20 (2) in paragraph (6), by striking the period at 

21 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

23 ‘‘(7) the provision of grants under section 

24 185(d).’’. 
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1 SEC. 3. IMMEDIATE CONVEYANCE OF TITLE TO SPENT NU2 CLEAR FUEL PREVIOUSLY CERTIFIED TO BE 

3 IN COMPLIANCE. 

4 Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment 

5 of this Act, the Secretary of Energy shall accept the con6 veyance of title to all spent nuclear fuel with respect to 

7 which, before the date of enactment of this Act, the Nu8 clear Regulatory Commission has certified that a con9 tractor under section 302 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act 

10 of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10222) has completed transfer to 

11 spent nuclear fuel dry casks in compliance with applicable 

12 regulations in effect as of the date of transfer. 

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