II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 443

To reaffirm the Federal Government’s commitment to electric consumers

and environmental protection by reaffirming the requirement of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 that the Secretary of Energy provide

for the safe disposal of spent nuclear fuel beginning not later than

January 31, 1998, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 16 (legislative day, JANUARY 30), 1995

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

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To reaffirm the Federal Government’s commitment to electric consumers and environmental protection by

reaffirming the requirement of the Nuclear Waste Policy

Act of 1982 that the Secretary of Energy provide for

the safe disposal of spent nuclear fuel beginning not

later than January 31, 1998, 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 ‘‘Electric Consumers

5 and Environmental Protection Act of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

3 (1) the generation of electricity by nuclear reac4 tors results in the production of spent nuclear fuel;

5 (2) about 24,000 metric tons of spent nuclear

6 fuel have been produced by the Nation’s operating

7 nuclear power plants, and an additional 50,000 met8 ric tons of spent nuclear fuel is expected to be pro9 duced during the terms of their current licenses;

10 (3) the vast majority of commercial spent nu11 clear fuel is currently stored in individual water12 filled pools at reactor sites throughout the Nation;

13 (4) the storage pools for the temporary storage

14 of spent nuclear fuel are nearing capacity at many

15 of the reactor sites;

16 (5) since the beginning of the commercial nu17 clear power industry in the 1960’s, the Federal Gov18 ernment has had the responsibility to provide for the

19 disposal of commercial spent nuclear fuel;

20 (6) Congress enacted the Nuclear Waste Policy

21 Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.) in order to

22 codify the Federal responsibility and policy to pro23 vide for the safe and timely disposal of spent nuclear

24 fuel by establishing a schedule for the siting, con25 struction, and operation of deep geologic reposi26 tories, assigning the responsibility for implementa-
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1 tion of the program to the Department of Energy,

2 and establishing the Nuclear Waste Fund to cover

3 the costs of the Federal disposal program to be paid

4 by utility ratepayers and owners;

5 (7) since the enactment of the Nuclear Waste

6 Policy Act of 1982, utility ratepayers and owners

7 have paid more than $10,000,000,000 into the Nu8 clear Waste Fund;

9 (8) under the schedule established in the Nu10 clear Waste Policy Act of 1982, the Department of

11 Energy, in return for the payment of the fees by

12 utility ratepayers and owners, is directed to dispose

13 of spent nuclear fuel beginning not later than Janu14 ary 31, 1998;

15 (9) despite the 13 years that have passed since

16 the enactment of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of

17 1982 and the expenditure of over $3,800,000,000,

18 the Department of Energy has fallen behind sched19 ule, and the projected date for commencement of op20 eration of a repository, under optimistic assump21 tions, is 2010;

22 (10) the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 cur23 rently prohibits the selection of a site for a mon24 itored retrievable storage facility until a site for a

25 permanent repository has been selected; and
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1 (11) the Department of Energy, under the Nu2 clear Waste Policy Act of 1982, has an absolute obli3 gation to accept spent nuclear fuel beginning not

4 later than January 31, 1998.

5 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

6 (1) to ensure that the Department of Energy

7 fulfills its responsibility to site, construct, and oper8 ate temporary and permanent nuclear waste disposal

9 facilities in a safe and timely manner; and

10 (2) to reaffirm the obligation of the Secretary

11 of Energy under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of

12 1982 to provide for the safe disposal of spent nu13 clear fuel beginning not later than January 31,

14 1998.

15 SEC. 3. REAFFIRMATION OF OBLIGATION OF SECRETARY

16 OF ENERGY.

17 Section 302(a) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of

18 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10222(a)) is amended by adding at the

19 end the following new paragraph:

20 ‘‘(7) The obligation of the Secretary under paragraph

21 (5) to accept high-level radioactive waste and spent nu22 clear fuel beginning not later than January 31, 1998, is

23 absolute and is not dependent on the commencement of

24 operation of a repository or a monitored retrievable stor-
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1 age facility. That obligation shall not be voided or delayed

2 for any reason.’’.

3 SEC. 4. SITING OF MONITORED RETRIEVABLE STORAGE FA4 CILITY.

5 (a) REPEAL OF SITE SELECTION LIMITATION.—Sec6 tion 145 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42

7 U.S.C. 10165) is amended by striking subsection (b).

8 (b) REPEAL OF LICENSING CONDITIONS.—Section

9 148 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C.

10 10168) is amended by striking subsection (d).

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