I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4891 

To amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to provide for the expansion 

of emergency planning zones and the development of plans for dry 

cask storage of spent nuclear fuel, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 29, 2018 

Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. KEATING, and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 

and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to provide 

for the expansion of emergency planning zones and the 

development of plans for dry cask storage of spent nuclear fuel, 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 ‘‘Dry Cask Storage Act 

5 of 2018’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EMERGENCY PLANNING ZONES; DRY CASK STOR2 AGE OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Nuclear Waste Pol4 icy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10121 et seq.) is amended 

5 by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘Subtitle I—Emergency Planning 

7 Zones; Dry Cask Storage of 

8 Spent Nuclear Fuel 

9 ‘‘SEC. 185. DEFINITIONS. 

10 ‘‘In this subtitle: 

11 ‘‘(1) EMERGENCY PLANNING ZONE.—The term 

12 ‘emergency planning zone’ means the emergency 

13 planning zone that is delineated with respect to the 

14 plume exposure pathway (as defined in section 350.2 

15 of title 44, Code of Federal Regulations (or any suc16 cessor regulation)) of a civilian nuclear power reac17 tor. 

18 ‘‘(2) LICENSEE.—The term ‘licensee’ has the 

19 meaning given the term in section 50.2 of title 10, 

20 Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu21 lation). 

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

23 term ‘spent nuclear fuel dry cask’ means a container 

24 (including any components and systems associated 

25 with the container) in which spent nuclear fuel is 


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1 stored at an independent spent fuel storage facil2 ity— 

3 ‘‘(A) that is— 

4 ‘‘(i) licensed by the Commission; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) located at a civilian nuclear 

6 power reactor site; and 

7 ‘‘(B) the design of which— 

8 ‘‘(i) includes a realistic security, seis9 mic, and flooding design basis, as deter10 mined by the Commission; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) is approved by the Commission. 

12 ‘‘SEC. 186. PLAN FOR DRY CASK STORAGE OF SPENT NU13 CLEAR FUEL. 

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 

15 the date of enactment of this section, each licensee shall 

16 submit to the Commission a plan that provides for— 

17 ‘‘(1) by the deadline specified in subsection (b), 

18 the transfer to spent nuclear fuel dry casks of any 

19 spent nuclear fuel that is— 

20 ‘‘(A) stored by the licensee in spent nu21 clear fuel pools; and 

22 ‘‘(B) qualified to be placed in spent nu23 clear fuel dry casks, in accordance with sub24 section (d); 


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1 ‘‘(2) on completion of the transfer under para2 graph (1), the additional transfer, on an ongoing 

3 basis, of any additional spent nuclear fuel that is 

4 stored by the licensee in spent nuclear fuel pools and 

5 that, after the date of the transfer under paragraph 

6 (1), is determined to be qualified to be placed in 

7 spent nuclear fuel dry casks, in accordance with sub8 section (d), subject to the requirement that each ad9 ditional transfer shall be completed by the date that 

10 is 1 year after the date on which the applicable 

11 spent nuclear fuel is determined to be qualified to be 

12 placed in spent nuclear fuel dry casks, in accordance 

13 with that subsection; and 

14 ‘‘(3) the configuration of the remaining spent 

15 nuclear fuel in a spent nuclear fuel pool in a manner 

16 that minimizes the chance of a fire if there is a loss 

17 of water in the spent nuclear fuel pool. 

18 ‘‘(b) DEADLINE FOR TRANSFER.—The deadline for 

19 transfer referred to in subsection (a)(1) is not later than 

20 the date that is 7 years after the date of submission of 

21 the plan. 

22 ‘‘(c) APPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL BY COMMISSION.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 

24 after the date on which a plan is submitted under 


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1 subsection (a), the Commission shall approve or dis2 approve the plan. 

3 ‘‘(2) ACTION FOLLOWING DISAPPROVAL.—If the 

4 Commission disapproves a plan under paragraph 

5 (1), the Commission shall— 

6 ‘‘(A) advise the licensee in writing of the 

7 reasons for the disapproval; 

8 ‘‘(B) make recommendations for revisions 

9 to the plan, which shall be submitted to the 

10 Commission by the date that is 30 days after 

11 the date on which the Commission provides no12 tice of the disapproval under subparagraph (A); 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(C) not later than 30 days after the date 

15 of receipt of a revised plan under subparagraph 

16 (B), approve or disapprove the revised plan. 

17 ‘‘(d) QUALIFICATION FOR PLACEMENT IN SPENT

18 NUCLEAR FUEL DRY CASKS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para20 graph (2), spent nuclear fuel shall be considered to 

21 be qualified to be placed in spent nuclear fuel dry 

22 casks under this section if the spent nuclear fuel has 

23 been stored in spent nuclear fuel pools for a period 

24 of at least 7 years. 


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1 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding paragraph 

2 (1), spent nuclear fuel shall not be considered to be 

3 qualified to be placed in spent nuclear fuel dry casks 

4 under this section if there does not exist an ap5 proved spent nuclear fuel dry cask in which the 

6 spent nuclear fuel may be placed. 

7 ‘‘(e) GRANTS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (3), 

9 the Commission may provide to any licensee that has 

10 a plan approved under subsection (c) a grant to as11 sist in the cost of transferring spent nuclear fuel to 

12 spent nuclear fuel dry casks under the approved 

13 plan. 

14 ‘‘(2) PREFERENCE.—In providing grants under 

15 paragraph (1), the Commission shall give preference 

16 to funding the implementation of approved plans— 

17 ‘‘(A) at civilian nuclear power reactors 

18 near a major population center; 

19 ‘‘(B) at civilian nuclear power reactors at 

20 which the spent nuclear fuel pools are close to 

21 being filled to capacity; 

22 ‘‘(C) that are supported by the State or 

23 unit of local government in which the civilian 

24 nuclear power reactor is located; and 


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1 ‘‘(D) at civilian nuclear power reactors 

2 that have permanently ceased operations. 

3 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—No grants may be provided 

4 under paragraph (1) to a licensee that the Commis5 sion determines is not in compliance with the ap6 proved plan, in accordance with subsection (f). 

7 ‘‘(f) BIENNIAL REVIEW.—Beginning on the date that 

8 is 2 years after the date on which a plan is approved under 

9 subsection (c) and every 2 years thereafter, the Commis10 sion shall conduct a review to determine whether the li11 censee is in compliance with the approved plan. 

12 ‘‘SEC. 187. EXPANSION AND APPLICABILITY OF EMERGENCY 

13 PLANNING ZONE. 

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The emergency planning zone 

15 that is applicable to each civilian nuclear power reactor 

16 shall be at least 10 miles in radius until the date on which 

17 all spent nuclear fuel at the civilian nuclear power reactor 

18 has been transferred to spent nuclear fuel dry casks. 

19 ‘‘(b) EXPANSION OF EMERGENCY PLANNING

20 ZONE.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para22 graph (2) and subject to paragraph (3), by the date 

23 that is 18 months after the date of enactment of 

24 this section, the Commission shall expand the emerVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Jan 30, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4891.IH H4891

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1 gency planning zone that is applicable to each civil2 ian nuclear power reactor to 50 miles in radius. 

3 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

4 apply to any civilian nuclear power reactor that is in 

5 compliance with a plan approved by the Commission 

6 under section 186(c), as determined by the Commis7 sion under section 186(f). 

8 ‘‘(3) PAYMENT OF COSTS.—The licensee shall 

9 be responsible for all costs associated with the ex10 pansion of the applicable emergency planning zone 

11 under paragraph (1).’’. 

12 (b) USE OF INTEREST.—Section 302(e) of the Nu13 clear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10222(e)) is 

14 amended by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(7) USE OF INTEREST.—Annually, the Sec16 retary of the Treasury shall transfer to the Commis17 sion an amount equal to at least 10 percent of the 

18 amount of interest generated during the preceding 

19 fiscal year under paragraph (3) for use, without fur20 ther appropriation or fiscal year limitation, to pay 

21 the costs of carrying out section 186(e).’’. 

22 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con23 tents for the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 is amend24 ed by adding after the item relating to section 180 the 

25 following: 


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‘‘Subtitle I—Emergency Planning Zones; Dry Cask Storage of Spent Nuclear 

Fuel 

‘‘Sec. 185. Definitions. 

‘‘Sec. 186. Plan for dry cask storage of spent nuclear fuel. 

‘‘Sec. 187. Expansion and applicability of emergency planning zone.’’. 

Æ 


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