II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 544

To establish a Presidential commission on nuclear waste, and for other

purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 13 (legislative day, MARCH 6), 1995

Mr. BRYAN (for himself and Mr. REID) introduced the following bill; which

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural

Resources

A BILL

To establish a Presidential commission on nuclear 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 Inde5 pendent Review Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress find that—

8 (1) despite the enactment of the Nuclear Waste

9 Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.), rate10 payer contributions to the Nuclear Waste Fund es-
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1 tablished by section 302 of the Act (42 U.S.C.

2 10222) of over $6,000,000,000, and expenditures of

3 over $4,000,000,000, the high-level radioactive waste

4 program is behind schedule and is the subject of nu5 merous fundamental controversies, including the

6 very concept of deep geologic storage;

7 (2) the Federal Government’s only proposed

8 transuranic waste disposal facility, the Waste Isola9 tion Pilot Plant (WIPP), is beset with unresolved

10 engineering, geologic, and certification problems and

11 suffers from cost overruns;

12 (3) Federal and State efforts to site low-level

13 radioactive waste disposal sites have failed in many

14 instances because of technical problems and public

15 opposition; and

16 (4) there has never been a comprehensive inde17 pendent review of Federal nuclear waste policies.

18 SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

19 The purpose of this Act is to establish a commission

20 to conduct a full independent review of United States nu21 clear waste policy.

22 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President, in consultation

24 with the Science Advisor to the President and the Council

25 on Environmental Quality, shall establish a commission to
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1 be known as the ‘‘Nuclear Waste Policy Review Commis2 sion’’ (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Commission’’).

3 (b) REPRESENTATION OF INTEREST GROUPS.—The

4 membership and structure of the Commission shall be de5 termined by the President with a view towards providing

6 representation from—

7 (1) environmental groups;

8 (2) consumer groups;

9 (3) taxpayer groups;

10 (4) the scientific community, including nuclear11 oriented and other fields such as biology and medi12 cine;

13 (5) State and local governments;

14 (6) Indian tribes;

15 (7) transportation experts;

16 (8) management experts;

17 (9) Federal, State, and local regulatory agen18 cies;

19 (10) utilities; and

20 (11) other affected industries.

21 (c) INDEPENDENT STATUS.—The Commission shall

22 be independent of the Department of Energy and other

23 Federal agencies.
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1 (d) PARTICIPATION BY THE PUBLIC.—The Commis2 sion shall hold public meetings and provide full opportuni3 ties for participation by all interested parties.

4 SEC. 5. ISSUES TO BE CONSIDERED.

5 The Commission shall consider all issues related to

6 United States policy concerning high-level, transuranic,

7 low-level waste, and other radioactive wastes including—

8 (1) various options for high-level radioactive

9 waste storage and disposal, including deep geologic

10 disposal, on-site dry storage, monitored retrievable

11 storage, centralized interim storage, or any other op12 tions;

13 (2) evaluation of the experiences of other coun14 tries in storing and disposing of radioactive waste;

15 (3) an analysis of funding through the Nuclear

16 Waste Fund established by section 302 of the Nu17 clear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10222),

18 including fee sufficiency and strategies for providing

19 equity for ratepayer contributions to the Nuclear

20 Waste Fund;

21 (4) the siting and characterization process for

22 nuclear waste programs currently in effect and alter23 natives to those programs;
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1 (5) technical, managerial, economic, and policy

2 analyses of the nuclear waste inventory of the Unit3 ed States; and

4 (6) an examination of the classification system

5 for nuclear waste currently in effect, and options for

6 reclassification.

7 SEC. 6. REPORT.

8 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment

9 of this Act, the Commission shall submit to Congress a

10 report on its review under this Act, including rec11 ommendations for legislative or other action.

12 SEC. 7. MORATORIUM ON ISSUANCE OF LICENSES.

13 No Federal agency may issue a license for a facility

14 for the storage or disposal of radioactive waste (except a

15 license for temporary on-site storage) until the date on

16 which the Commission submits its report under section 6.

17 SEC. 8. TERMINATION OF COMMISSION.

18 The Commission shall terminate 30 days after the

19 date on which the Commission submits its report under

20 section 6.

21 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

22 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums

23 as are necessary to carry out this Act.

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