II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 683

To amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to allow commercial nuclear

utilities that have contracts with the Secretary of Energy under section

302 of that Act to receive credits to offset the cost of storing spent

fuel that the Secretary is unable to accept for disposal.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 23, 1999

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 amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to allow

commercial nuclear utilities that have contracts with the

Secretary of Energy under section 302 of that Act to

receive credits to offset the cost of storing spent fuel

that the Secretary is unable to accept for disposal.

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 ‘‘Independent Spent Nu5 clear Fuel Storage Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Sec. 1. Short title.
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Sec. 2. Table of contents.

Sec. 3. Definitions.

Sec. 4. Findings.

Sec. 5. Amendments to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.

1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

2 For purposes of this Act—

3 (1) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Nuclear

4 Regulatory Commission; and

5 (2) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

6 of the Department of Energy.

7 SEC. 4. FINDINGS.

8 The Congress finds that—

9 (1) approximately 35,000 tons of spent nuclear

10 fuel is currently stored at commercial nuclear reac11 tors across the nation;

12 (2) the deep geologic high-level radioactive

13 waste and spent nuclear fuel repository envisioned

14 by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C.

15 10101 et seq.) has not been constructed in time to

16 permit the Secretary to receive and accept high-level

17 radioactive waste or spent nuclear fuel as con18 templated by sections 123 and 302 of that Act (42

19 U.S.C. 10143, 10222), with the result that the Sec20 retary will be unable to perform contracts executed

21 pursuant to section 302(a) of that Act with persons

22 who generate or hold title to high-level radioactive

23 waste or spent nuclear fuel;
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1 (3) there have been no orders for the develop2 ment or construction of civilian nuclear power gener3 ating facilities since the enactment of the Nuclear

4 Waste Policy Act of 1982; several such facilities that

5 were anticipated when the Act was enacted are not

6 operating now;

7 (4) it does not now appear that a deep geologic

8 high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel

9 repository will be available before the year 2010 or

10 later;

11 (5) by the time a deep geologic repository is

12 available many currently operating commercial nu13 clear reactors will need spent fuel storage capacity

14 beyond the maximum now available in at-reactor

15 spent fuel storage pools; nuclear utilities have spent

16 and will spend major sums to construct facilities, in17 cluding dry cask spent fuel storage facilities, for use

18 in the interim before a deep geologic repository is

19 available;

20 (6) the sums spent for the purposes described

21 in paragraph (5) are the same funds that commer22 cial nuclear utilities intended to contribute to the

23 Nuclear Waste Fund established by section 302 of

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

25 10222(c));
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1 (7) the technology for long-term storage of

2 spent nuclear fuel, including the technology of dry

3 cask storage, has improved dramatically since the

4 enactment of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982,

5 and is currently licensed by the Commission and in

6 operation in ten sites throughout the country;

7 (8) the existing statutory jurisdiction of the

8 Commission, under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954

9 (42 U.S.C. 2001 et seq.), the Energy Reorganization

10 Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5801 et seq.), Executive

11 Order 11834 (42 U.S.C. 5801 note), the Nuclear

12 Regulatory Commission Reorganization Plan No. 1

13 of 1980, and the Commission’s various authorization

14 Acts includes the jurisdiction to review and evaluate

15 the spent fuel storage capability of commercial nu16 clear utilities that hold or seek licenses to receive

17 and possess nuclear materials from the Commission;

18 (9) commercial nuclear utilities that hold li19 censes to receive and possess nuclear materials are

20 generally well suited to maintain the institutional ca21 pability necessary to become stewards of spent nu22 clear fuel during a period of interim storage; and

23 (10) the increased radioactive decay that will

24 occur in spent nuclear fuel that has been stored for

25 interim periods prior to deliver to the Secretary pur-
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1 suant to section 123 of the Nuclear Waste Policy

2 Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10143) will ease and facili3 tate its subsequent handling, transportation, and

4 final disposal.

5 SEC. 5. AMENDMENTS TO THE NUCLEAR WASTE POLICY

6 ACT OF 1982.

7 Section 302 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982

8 (42 U.S.C. 10222) is amended by inserting at the end

9 thereof the following new subsection:

10 ‘‘(f)(1) Persons holding contracts under this section

11 may, through credits on fee payments under subsection

12 (a)(2), offset the expenses of providing storage of spent

13 fuel the Secretary would have accepted if a facility was

14 available and until the date of the Secretary’s first accept15 ance of that person’s spent fuel at a storage or disposal

16 facility authorized by this Act.

17 ‘‘(2) The credits described in paragraph (1)—

18 ‘‘(A) shall be deducted from each remittance of

19 a person’s fee payments to the Nuclear Waste Fund

20 from the time that the person meets the conditions

21 of paragraph (1) until the time that the Secretary

22 first accepts that person’s spent fuel at a storage or

23 disposal facility authorized by this Act; and
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1 ‘‘(B) shall be in an amount determined by the

2 Secretary to reflect the cost of storage qualifying

3 under subsection (f)(1).’’.

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