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106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1559

To amend the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 to

provide for the remediation of the Atlas mill tailings site near Moab, Utah.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 26, 1999

Mr. CANNON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act

of 1978 to provide for the remediation of the Atlas

mill tailings site near Moab, Utah.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. REMEDIATION OF ATLAS SITE.

4 Subsection (a) of section 102 of the Uranium Mill

5 Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C.

6 7912(a)) is amended by adding the following new para7 graph at the end thereof:

8 ‘‘(4) The Secretary shall designate as a proc9 essing site within the meaning of section 101(6) the

10 Atlas uranium tailing site (hereafter in this para-
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1 graph referred to as the ‘‘Atlas Site’’) located ap2 proximately 3 miles northwest of Moab, Utah, and

3 identified in the Draft Environmental Impact State4 ment issued in January, 1996, in connection with

5 Source Material License No. SUA 917 by the Nu6 clear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Ma7 terial Safety and Safeguards. The provisions of this

8 Act shall apply to the site so designated in the same

9 manner and to the same extent as to the sites des10 ignated under this subsection, except that in apply11 ing such provisions to the site—

12 ‘‘(A) subsection (a) of section 112 and

13 subsection (a) of section 115 shall not apply;

14 ‘‘(B) any reference in this Act to the date

15 of the enactment of this Act shall be treated as

16 a reference to the date of the enactment of this

17 paragraph;

18 ‘‘(C) the Secretary’s share shall be 100

19 percent; and

20 ‘‘(D) the Secretary, without regard to sec21 tion 104(b), shall, in consultation with the gov22 ernment of Grand County, Utah, remove resid23 ual radioactive material from the Atlas Site and

24 from the floodplain of the Colorado River for

25 permanent disposition and stabilization of such
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1 residual radioactive material in a safe and envi2 ronmentally sound manner.

3 As promptly as practicable after the enactment of this

4 paragraph, the Attorney General shall undertake the stud5 ies required under subsection (b) of section 115 with re6 spect to the Atlas Site and take such action as may be

7 necessary in accordance with such subsection to require

8 the owner or operator of the Atlas Site, or any other per9 son liable for the costs of remedial action at such site,

10 to reimburse the United States for the costs of such reme11 dial action. Section 1001(a) of the Energy Policy Act of

12 1992 (42 U.S.C. 2296a(a)) notwithstanding, the current

13 owner and operator of the Atlas Site shall be relieved of

14 all further responsibility for costs of remedial action at

15 the Atlas Site if such owner and operator transfers to the

16 Secretary fee simple title and all water rights appurtenant

17 thereto to the entire Site (consisting of 437 acres more

18 or less) and such owner and operator releases and surren19 ders to the Secretary all existing and future rights to re20 ceive reimbursement for costs of remedial action under

21 section 1001(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992. The

22 Commission shall transfer to the Secretary all surety

23 bonds or other instruments securing the performance of

24 the licensee’s decontamination, decommissioning, reclama25 tion, and other remedial obligations under Source Material
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1 License No. SUA 917, whereupon such license shall be

2 terminated. After the removal of radioactive materials

3 from the Atlas Site, the Secretary, with the concurrence

4 of the Commission, may sell any lands and interests ac5 quired in the Atlas Site or donate such lands and interests

6 to a governmental entity within the State of Utah for per7 manent use for park, recreational, or other public pur8 poses.’’.

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