I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 526
To redirect the Nuclear Waste Fund established under the Nuclear Waste 
Policy Act of 1982 into research, development, and utilization of risk-
decreasing technologies for the onsite storage and eventual reduction 
of radiation levels of nuclear waste, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 2, 2005
Ms. BERKLEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on 
Science and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined 
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To redirect the Nuclear Waste Fund established under the 
Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 into research, develop-
ment, and utilization of risk-decreasing technologies for 
the onsite storage and eventual reduction of radiation 
levels of nuclear waste, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘21st Century Science 
for Nuclear Waste Disposal Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 
1982, the storage of high-level radioactive waste, 
transuranic waste, and spent nuclear fuel is to be lo-
cated at a central repository. 
(2) The Department of Energy estimates that 
completing the Yucca Mountain central repository 
project will cost $58,000,000,000, making the 
project one of the most costly public works projects 
in the world. 
(3) Numerous geological and hydrological condi-
tions found at Yucca Mountain support the conten-
tion that Yucca Mountain is not a suitable site for 
a central repository. 
(4) Public health and safety regulations have 
consistently been altered in order to make Yucca 
Mountain appear to be a feasible option. 
(5) Storing high-level radioactive waste in a 
central repository at Yucca Mountain would require 
the transportation of more than 70,000 tons of nu-
clear waste through 43 States, and through hun-
dreds of cities and towns. Fifty million Americans 
live within one half mile of the shipping routes, cre-
ating an unacceptable risk of catastrophic radiation 
exposure.
(6) Storage of high level nuclear waste at a cen-
tral repository will do virtually nothing to reduce the 
volume of high level waste at nuclear power plants. 
The estimated 43,500 metric tons of high level waste 
at these plants would be reduced to only 42,500 
metric tons during the projected 38 years from 
opening to closing of a central repository, with no 
plan in place to improve the efficacy of on-site stor-
age facilities located across the Nation. 
(7) Current nuclear power reactor sites can 
safely store high-level radioactive waste for another 
100 years (according to the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission). By implementing the most advanced 
existing technology, nuclear power reactor sites 
could store waste for an additional 100 years, thus 
eliminating the need to immediately site a central re-
pository. 
(8) The United States can create solutions to 
the long-term problems of storing high-level radio-
active waste by exploring emerging technologies with 
the potential to neutralize highly radioactive waste. 
(9) The research, development, and utilization 
in the United States of risk-decreasing technologies 
for the safe disposal of nuclear waste is not only fea-
sible, but it is our best alternative to storing high-
level nuclear waste at a central repository. 
(10) The Nuclear Waste Fund has accumulated 
more than $10,000,000,000 to store high-level nu-
clear radioactive waste in a central repository, a 
failed concept. Given the scientific evidence against 
the Yucca Mountain site, and the health and safety 
problems inherent in the concept of a central high-
level radioactive waste repository, the Nuclear Waste 
Fund should be directed toward the research, devel-
opment, and utilization of these alternative waste 
storage and disposal technologies to better protect 
our environment. 
(11) The insurmountable problems associated 
with storing nuclear waste in a central repository re-
quires the Congress to terminate the Yucca Moun-
tain Project and to immediately launch a focused re-
search and development program to develop safe nu-
clear waste disposal technologies. 
SEC. 3. NUCLEAR WASTE FUND. 
Section 302 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 
(42 U.S.C. 10222) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)—
(A) by striking ‘‘CONTRACTS.—(1) In the’’ 
and all that follows through ‘‘described in sub-