II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3634 

To amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to improve the material 

control and accounting and data management systems used by civilian 

nuclear power reactors to better account for spent nuclear fuel and 

reduce the risks associated with the handling of those materials. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 11, 2006 

Mr. JEFFORDS (for himself and Mr. LEAHY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 

Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to improve 

the material control and accounting and data management systems used by civilian nuclear power reactors 

to better account for spent nuclear fuel and reduce the 

risks associated with the handling of those materials. 

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 ‘‘Spent Nuclear Fuel 

5 Control and Accounting Act of 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) several incidents involving missing or unac2 counted-for spent nuclear fuel have occurred at civil3 ian nuclear power reactors, including— 

4 (A) the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power 

5 Plant; 

6 (B) the Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power 

7 Plant (California); and 

8 (C) the Millstone Nuclear Power Station 

9 (Connecticut); 

10 (2) weaknesses in the accounting and control of 

11 spent nuclear fuel have been identified at several 

12 other civilian nuclear power reactors; 

13 (3) data provided by the Nuclear Regulatory 

14 Commission indicate that— 

15 (A) operators of most civilian nuclear 

16 power reactors have removed spent fuel rods 

17 from their fuel assemblies; and 

18 (B) those rods are stored onsite in spent 

19 fuel pools or dry casks or have been shipped 

20 offsite to a storage facility; 

21 (4) individual spent fuel rods and fragments 

22 may also result from the loading of a new assembly 

23 and therefore may be new fuel; 

24 (5) individual spent fuel rods, and especially 

25 fragments of spent fuel rods, are— 


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1 (A) highly radioactive; and 

2 (B) much smaller and lighter than fuel as3 semblies; 

4 (6) while regulations promulgated by the Nu5 clear Regulatory Commission require civilian nuclear 

6 power reactors to control and account for spent nu7 clear fuel, they do not cover— 

8 (A) individual spent fuel rods that have 

9 been removed from an assembly; and 

10 (B) fragments of spent fuel rods; 

11 (7) the storage and oversight of individual 

12 spent fuel rods at civilian nuclear power reactors 

13 have not been managed in a consistent manner; 

14 (8) the lack of specific guidance in the regula15 tions promulgated by the Nuclear Regulatory Com16 mission relating to how civilian nuclear power reac17 tors should conduct physical inventories has resulted 

18 in inconsistent compliance with those regulations; 

19 (9) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission does 

20 not evaluate the compliance of civilian nuclear power 

21 reactors with the material control and accounting 

22 regulations promulgated by the Commission; 

23 (10) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has 

24 much to do to implement the recommendations listed 

25 in the report published by the Government AccountVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:27 Jul 12, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3634.IS S3634

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1 ability Office titled ‘‘NRC Needs to Do More to En2 sure that Power Plants Are Effectively Controlling 

3 Spent Nuclear Fuel’’; and 

4 (11) the effective implementation of material 

5 control and accounting regulations by civilian nu6 clear power reactors is of great importance to the 

7 United States because of the potential safety and se8 curity consequences for failing to manage spent nu9 clear fuel, especially in the aftermath of terrorist at10 tacks in the United States. 

11 SEC. 3. MATERIAL CONTROL AND ACCOUNTING OF DIS12 MANTLED FUEL ASSEMBLY. 

13 The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 

14 10101 et seq.) is amended by adding after section 137 

15 the following: 

16 ‘‘SEC. 138. MATERIAL CONTROL AND ACCOUNTING OF INDI17 VIDUAL RODS AND FRAGMENTS FROM A DIS18 MANTLED FUEL ASSEMBLY. 

19 ‘‘(a) PROMULGATION OF REGULATIONS.—The Com20 mission shall promulgate regulations to require each civil21 ian nuclear power reactor to provide to the Commission 

22 a report that contains a detailed record of each individual 

23 spent fuel rod, and each fragment of a spent fuel rod, that 

24 results from the loading or dismantling of a fuel assembly. 


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1 ‘‘(b) ANNUAL INSPECTION.—The Commission shall 

2 promulgate regulations to require an annual inspection by 

3 the Commission of each civilian nuclear power reactor to 

4 determine the compliance of the civilian nuclear power re5 actor with regulations relating to the material control and 

6 accounting of spent nuclear fuel promulgated by the Com7 mission. 

8 ‘‘SEC. 139. GUIDANCE FOR STORING INDIVIDUAL FUEL 

9 RODS AND FRAGMENTS. 

10 ‘‘The Commission shall develop and make available 

11 to each civilian nuclear power reactor guidance that de12 scribes— 

13 ‘‘(1) best management practices relating to— 

14 ‘‘(A) the procedures that a civilian nuclear 

15 power reactor should use to store individual fuel 

16 rods and fragments on site; and 

17 ‘‘(B) the selection of suitable locations for 

18 the storage of individual fuel rods and frag19 ments; and 

20 ‘‘(2) suitable inventory practices relating to— 

21 ‘‘(A) the manner in which a civilian nu22 clear power reactor should conduct an annual 

23 inventory of any spent nuclear fuel, including 

24 individual fuel rods and fragments; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) the manner in which a civilian nu2 clear power reactor should catalogue each item 

3 of spent nuclear fuel, including individual rods 

4 and fragments located at the civilian nuclear 

5 power reactor. 

6 ‘‘SEC. 140. ELECTRONIC DATA MANAGEMENT AND WASTE 

7 TRACKING SYSTEM. 

8 ‘‘(a) DEVELOPMENT OF SYSTEM.—The Commission 

9 shall develop an electronic data management and waste 

10 tracking system— 

11 ‘‘(1) to store and access the records of each ci12 vilian nuclear power reactor; and 

13 ‘‘(2) to track the location of spent nuclear fuel 

14 including individual rods and fragments. 

15 ‘‘(b) ADOPTION OF ELECTRONIC DATA MANAGE16 MENT AND WASTE TRACKING SYSTEM BY CIVILIAN NU17 CLEAR POWER REACTORS.—The Commission shall pro18 mulgate regulations to require each civilian nuclear power 

19 reactor— 

20 ‘‘(1) in the case of a civilian nuclear power re21 actor that is licensed before the date of enactment 

22 of this section, to digitize the existing records of the 

23 civilian nuclear power reactor; and 

24 ‘‘(2) in the case of a civilian nuclear power re25 actor that is licensed on or after the date of enactVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:27 Jul 12, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3634.IS S3634

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1 ment of this Act, to implement and use the elec2 tronic data management and waste tracking system 

3 described in subsection (a). 

4 ‘‘(c) EVALUATION OF EXISTING ELECTRONIC DATA

5 MANAGEMENT AND WASTE TRACKING SYSTEMS.—The 

6 Commission may evaluate existing electronic data manage7 ment and waste tracking systems to determine whether 

8 those systems could be modified for purposes of complying 

9 with subsection (a).’’. 

10 SEC. 4. MANIFEST REQUIREMENT FOR SPENT NUCLEAR 

11 FUEL. 

12 The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 

13 10101 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 180 

14 the following: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 181. MANIFEST REQUIREMENT FOR SPENT NUCLEAR 

16 FUEL. 

17 ‘‘(a) DEVELOPMENT OF MANIFEST.—The Commis18 sion shall develop a detailed manifest form for the onsite 

19 transportation of spent fuel that indicates whether the 

20 package containing the spent fuel contains individual rods 

21 or fragments. 

22 ‘‘(b) PROMULGATION OF REGULATIONS.—The Com23 mission shall promulgate regulations to require each civil24 ian nuclear power reactor to provide to the Commission 

25 a completed detailed manifest form developed under subVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:27 Jul 12, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3634.IS S3634

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1 section (a) to identify and track any spent fuel rod or rod 

2 fragment that is transported within the premises of the 

3 civilian nuclear power reactor. 

4 ‘‘SEC. 182. IDENTIFICATION OF SPENT FUEL OR ROD FRAG5 MENTS TRANSPORTED OUTSIDE PREMISES 

6 OF CIVILIAN NUCLEAR POWER REACTORS. 

7 ‘‘The Commission, in consultation with the Depart8 ment of Transportation, shall identify any spent fuel rod 

9 or rod fragment that is transported outside the premises 

10 of the civilian nuclear power reactor through use of mani11 fests used by the Department of Transportation.’’. 

12 SEC. 5. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

13 The table of contents of the Nuclear Waste Policy 

14 Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101 note; 96 Stat. 2201) is 

15 amended— 

16 (1) by adding after the item relating to section 

17 137 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 138. Material control and accounting of dismantled fuel assembly. 

‘‘Sec. 139. Guidance for storing spent nuclear fuel. 

‘‘Sec. 140. Electronic data management and waste tracking system.’’. 

18 and; 

19 (2) by adding after the item relating to section 

20 180 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 181. Manifest requirement for spent nuclear fuel. 

‘‘Sec. 182. Identification of spent fuel or rod fragments transported outside 

premises of civilian nuclear power reactors.’’. 

Æ 


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