(15) The Department of Energy has failed to
address the Yucca Mountain Project’s vulnerability
to terrorism and sabotage, intrusions, trespassing,
vandalism, arson, and bomb-related incidents, as ex-
pressed by the State of Nevada and independent re-
searchers throughout the country.
(16) The Department of Energy’s methodology
for assessing risks seriously underestimates those as-
sociated with sabotage and terrorism against radio-
active shipments, waste stored at intermodal storage
facilities, storage depots, and at Yucca Mountain
itself.
(17) The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the
agency in charge of protecting public health and
safety and the environment from the harmful effects
of nuclear waste, has not revised its rules regarding
the transportation of nuclear waste since the early
1970s. The antiquated rules do not address modern-
day threats and weapons, nor the increased risk
posed by today’s most violent and maniacal terror-
ists.
SEC. 3. YUCCA MOUNTAIN PROJECT VULNERABILITY AND
DEFENSE PLAN.
The Office of Homeland Security shall coordinate the
development and implementation of an interagency plan,
in conjunction with appropriate Federal, State, and local
agencies and with public input, to prepare for and defend
against Federal crimes of terrorism targeting any aspect
of the Yucca Mountain Project. The interagency plan
shall—
(1) include a comprehensive analysis of the
safety and vulnerability to Federal crimes of ter-
rorism of the Yucca Mountain Project;
(2) address attacks against—
(A) rail, truck, and barge shipments of nu-
clear waste;
(B) facilities, equipment, infrastructure,
and vehicles used for such shipments of nuclear
waste;
(C) personnel working for the Yucca
Mountain Project;
(D) all intermediary, staging, transfer,
intermodal, and temporary storage facilities
used for shipping nuclear waste to the Yucca
Mountain repository;
(E) Yucca Mountain repository facilities,
vehicles, and equipment;
(F) all water and power systems used by
the Yucca Mountain Project; and
(G) nuclear waste containers for transpor-
tation, transfer, or storage;
(3) give special emphasis to addressing—
(A) the use of nuclear waste as a radio-
logical weapon;
(B) the use of high-energy explosives, anti-
tank missiles, armor piercing technologies, and
other sophisticated technologies; and
(C) sabotage or theft of high-level nuclear
waste;
(4) include a comprehensive strategy for de-
fending the Yucca Mountain Project against all Fed-
eral crimes of terrorism, which shall address—
(A) vulnerabilities analyzed under para-
graph (1);
(B) the defense of the Yucca Mountain
Project against air and ground assaults, truck
bombs, attacks using sophisticated armor pierc-
ing technologies, suicide attacks, and other po-
tential military-style attacks;
(C) credible worst-case assumptions about
the timing and location of potential attacks;
(D) the effects of weather conditions dur-
ing and after attacks;
(E) the use of expanded no-fly zones, and
the development of policy regarding infractions
of a no-fly zone over key areas involved in the
Yucca Mountain Project, with emphasis paid to
whether the size of the no-fly zone is sufficient
to protect against an airborne attack, ways of
defending against this type of attack, and
whether there is ample time for our national de-
fense to defend against an infraction of the no-
fly zone;
(F) the use of background and security
checks of all personnel related to the transport
of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain;
(G) developing a uniform Federal standard
for the use of deadly force to protect all aspects
of the Yucca Mountain Project; and
(H) specific rules of engagement for a po-
tential airborne attack; and
(5) an analysis of the economic, public health,
and environmental costs and impacts of imple-
menting the plan.
SEC. 4. YUCCA MOUNTAIN PROJECT TERRORISM CON-
SEQUENCE 
ASSESSMENT 
AND 
RESPONSE
PLAN.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, in co-
ordination with appropriate Federal, State, and local
agencies, shall coordinate the development and implemen-
tation of a comprehensive interagency plan to ensure that
Federal, State, and local government response plans and
programs can respond adequately to the consequences of
Federal crimes of terrorism directed against any stage of
the Yucca Mountain Project. The plan shall include—
(1) necessary preresponse preparations and
evacuation plans for Federal, State, and local gov-
ernments;
(2) procedures for notifying State and local
emergency response units when nuclear waste is
transported through their local area;
(3) an analysis and a comprehensive set of pro-
cedures to address the impacts of Federal crimes of
terrorism that result in a release of radioactive ma-
terials including—
(A) immediate and long term public health
effects;
(B) environmental impacts, broadly de-
fined;
(C) direct socioeconomic impacts, including
cleanup and disposal costs and opportunity
costs, to affected individuals and businesses;
and
(D) indirect socioeconomic impacts, includ-
ing economic losses resulting from perceptions
of risk and stigma effects; and
(4) a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the
economic, public health, and environmental effects of
implementing the plan. The analysis shall include
the repercussions and costs from a wide range of
types of Federal crimes of terrorism.
SEC. 5. TECHNICAL REVIEW.
The Assistant to the President for Homeland Secu-
rity and the Federal Emergency Management Agency
shall enter into appropriate arrangements with the Na-
tional Research Council for technical review of the plans
developed under sections 3 and 4, respectively. Such re-
views shall—
(1) address the strengths and shortcomings of
the analyses and preparations set forth in the plans;
and
(2) pay special attention to—
(A) the need for physical testing, including
full-scale and scale model testing, to evaluate
weapons capabilities;
(B) container vulnerability to high-energy
explosive devices, and the effects on nuclear
waste; and
(C) the appropriateness of existing com-
puter models for evaluating near-site environ-
mental dispersion of released radionuclides, re-
sulting health effects, and cleanup and disposal
requirements.
SEC. 6. GOVERNMENT LIABILITY OF YUCCA MOUNTAIN
PROJECT CONTRACTING.
The Assistant to the President for Homeland Secu-
rity shall prepare and transmit to the Congress a report
on the potential liability costs and damages resulting from
a wide range of Federal crimes of terrorism against the
Yucca Mountain Project. Such report must be transmitted
before the Secretary of Energy may make a positive rec-
ommendation to the President under section 114(a) of the
Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10134(a)).
SEC. 7. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY RECOMMENDATION.
The Secretary of Energy shall not make a positive
recommendation to the President under section 114(a) of
the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C.
10134(a)), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission shall
not issue any license for a repository at Yucca Mountain,
unless—
(1) the interagency plans required under sec-
tions 3 and 4 are completed and included in the
final environmental impact statement for Yucca
Mountain, and all rules and recommendations imple-
mented completely;
(2) public hearings have been held for all af-
fected populations; and
(3) the Secretary has certified that all facets of
the Yucca Mountain Project are not vulnerable to
Federal crimes of terrorism.
SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act—
(1) the term ‘‘Federal crime of terrorism’’ has
the meaning given that term in section 2332b(g)(5)
of title 18, United States Code; and
(2) the term ‘‘Yucca Mountain Project’’ means
all aspects of the high-level nuclear waste repository
currently being studied at Yucca Mountain. The
term includes all Department of Energy transpor-
tation plans, interim storage facilities, intermodal
transfer facilities, repositories, and any other site
where high-level waste will be handled in relation to
the Yucca Mountain Project.
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