II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1008 

To amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to improve and strengthen the 

safety inspection process of nuclear facilities. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 28, 2007 

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

to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to improve and 

strengthen the safety inspection process of nuclear facilities. 

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

3 SECTION 1. INDEPENDENT SAFETY ASSESSMENTS. 

4 Section 103 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 

5 U.S.C. 2133) is amended by inserting after subsection d. 

6 the following: 

7 ‘‘e. INDEPENDENT SAFETY ASSESSMENTS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) DEVELOPMENT OF PROCEDURE.—Not 

9 later than 90 days after the date of enactment of 

10 this subsection, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 


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1 (referred to in this subsection as the ‘Commission’) 

2 shall develop an independent safety assessment pro3 cedure. 

4 ‘‘(2) CONDUCT OF ASSESSMENT.— 

5 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE RE6 QUESTOR.—In this paragraph, the term ‘eligible 

7 requestor’ means— 

8 ‘‘(i) a Governor of a State in which a 

9 facility of a licensee is located; 

10 ‘‘(ii) a public utility commission of a 

11 State in which a facility of a licensee is lo12 cated; and 

13 ‘‘(iii) a Governor of a State that— 

14 ‘‘(I) because of dangers to the 

15 public relating to potential ingestion 

16 of water or foods that have been con17 taminated with radiation from a com18 mercial nuclear power plant, is located 

19 in an emergency planning zone, as de20 fined in section 350.2 of title 44, 

21 Code of Federal Regulations (or a 

22 successor regulation); and 

23 ‘‘(II) is not the same State in 

24 which the facility of the licensee is lo25 cated. 


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1 ‘‘(B) REQUEST OF ASSESSMENT.— 

2 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—At the request of 

3 an eligible requestor, the Commission shall 

4 conduct an independent safety assessment 

5 in accordance with the independent safety 

6 assessment procedure developed under 

7 paragraph (1) if the licensee has— 

8 ‘‘(I) applied to the Commission 

9 for— 

10 ‘‘(aa) an extension of the op11 erating license of the licensee; or 

12 ‘‘(bb) approval of an ex13 tended power uprate for the li14 censee; or 

15 ‘‘(II) during any 5-year period, 

16 received, under the reactor oversight 

17 process of the Commission, 2 or more 

18 greater-than-green inspection findings. 

19 ‘‘(ii) CONDUCT OF ASSESSMENT.— 

20 The Commission shall conduct an assess21 ment requested by an eligible requestor 

22 under clause (i) not later than 18 months 

23 after the date on which the eligible re24 questor requested the assessment. 

25 ‘‘(3) INSPECTION OF FACILITY.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In conducting an 

2 independent safety assessment under paragraph 

3 (2)(B), the Commission shall inspect the de4 sign, construction, maintenance, and oper5 ational safety performance of the facility of the 

6 licensee. 

7 ‘‘(B) SCOPE OF INSPECTION.—An inspec8 tion of a facility of a licensee conducted under 

9 subparagraph (A) shall— 

10 ‘‘(i) be at least equal in scope, depth, 

11 and breadth to the independent safety as12 sessment conducted in 1996 by the Com13 mission of the Maine Yankee Nuclear 

14 Power Plant, located in Wiscasset, Maine; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(ii) include an examination of the 

17 systems of the facility of the licensee, in18 cluding— 

19 ‘‘(I) the reactor containment sys20 tems; 

21 ‘‘(II) the reactor emergency core 

22 cooling systems; 

23 ‘‘(III) the control room and con24 tainment ventilation systems; 


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1 ‘‘(IV) the electrical system (in2 cluding testing of relevant transients); 

3 ‘‘(V) the condensate and 

4 feedwater systems; 

5 ‘‘(VI) the spent fuel storage sys6 tems; 

7 ‘‘(VII) any other system re8 quested by the Governor of the State, 

9 or a public utility commission of the 

10 State, in which the facility of the li11 censee is located; and 

12 ‘‘(VIII) any other system identi13 fied by a majority of the members of 

14 an inspection team described in para15 graph (4). 

16 ‘‘(4) INSPECTION TEAMS.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An independent safety 

18 assessment conducted under paragraph (2)(B) 

19 shall be conducted by an inspection team. 

20 ‘‘(B) COMPOSITION.—An inspection team 

21 shall be composed of not less than 25 members, 

22 of whom— 

23 ‘‘(i) not less than 16 members shall 

24 be— 


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1 ‘‘(I) employees of the Commis2 sion; and 

3 ‘‘(II) unaffiliated with the re4 gional office of the Commission in the 

5 region in which the facility of the li6 censee is located; 

7 ‘‘(ii) not less than 6 members shall be 

8 independent contractors who have not 

9 worked for, or at— 

10 ‘‘(I) the facility of the licensee; or 

11 ‘‘(II) any other nuclear power 

12 plant owned or operated by the owner 

13 or operator of the facility of the li14 censee; and 

15 ‘‘(iii) not less than 3 members shall be 

16 appointed by the eligible requestor. 

17 ‘‘(5) REPORT.— 

18 ‘‘(A) PREPARATION OF PRELIMINARY RE19 PORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

20 on which an inspection team completes an inde21 pendent safety assessment of a facility of a li22 censee under paragraph (2)(B), the inspection 

23 team shall prepare a preliminary report describ24 ing the findings and recommendations of the in25 spection team. 


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1 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY OF PRELIMINARY RE2 PORT.—For a period of 90 days beginning on 

3 the date on which the inspection team com4 pletes a preliminary report prepared under sub5 paragraph (A), the inspection team shall make 

6 available for review and comment by the public 

7 a copy of the preliminary report. 

8 ‘‘(C) CONSIDERATION OF COMMENTS.—In 

9 preparing a final version of a preliminary report 

10 developed under subparagraph (A), the inspec11 tion team shall take into consideration any com12 ments received from the public that are appro13 priate, as determined by the inspection team. 

14 ‘‘(D) SUBMISSION OF FINAL VERSION.— 

15 Not later than 90 days after the date on which 

16 the period of review and public comment ends 

17 under subparagraph (B), the inspection team 

18 shall submit to the Commission a final version 

19 of the preliminary report developed under sub20 paragraph (A). 

21 ‘‘(6) AFFECT ON LICENSING ACTIONS.—A final 

22 decision by the Commission of whether to extend an 

23 operating license, approve an extended power uprate, 

24 or continue to operate under a license at a facility 


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1 of a licensee assessed under paragraph (2)(B) shall 

2 not be made until the later of the date on which— 

3 ‘‘(A) the Commission has completed the 

4 independent safety assessment of the facility of 

5 the licensee; and 

6 ‘‘(B) the licensee has fully accepted and 

7 implemented each finding and recommendation 

8 of the report approved by the Commission relat9 ing to the independent safety assessment of the 

10 facility of the licensee submitted under para11 graph (5)(D). 

12 ‘‘(7) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

13 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

14 this subsection $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

15 2008 through 2012, to remain available until ex16 pended.’’. 

Æ 


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