I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5057
To amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to clarify the obligation
of the Federal Government to take title to and possession of high-
level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel and establish an interim
spent nuclear fuel storage facility, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 19, 1994
Mr. UPTON introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the
Committees on Natural Resources and Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to clarify
the obligation of the Federal Government to take title
to and possession of high-level radioactive waste and
spent nuclear fuel and establish an interim spent nuclear
fuel storage facility, 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 ‘‘Federal Nuclear Waste
Responsibility Act of 1994’’.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The transportation, storage, and disposal of
high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel is
a matter of national urgency that is the responsibil-
ity of this generation.
(2) The utility generators and owners of high-
level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, to-
gether with their customers, have met their obliga-
tions under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982
to provide for the cost of siting, licensing, construc-
tion, and operation of a Federal waste management
system for the transportation, storage, and disposal
of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear
fuel.
(3) Some utilities have now exhausted their
spent nuclear fuel pool storage capacity, a total of
26 nuclear power reactors will reach their spent nu-
clear fuel pool storage capacity by the end of 1998,
and approximately 80 nuclear power reactors will be
without spent nuclear fuel pool storage capacity by
2010. As a result, utility rate payers face significant
costs associated with expanding storage capacity at
reactor sites, and continued delay is unacceptable.
(4) Federal efforts to site, license, construct,
and operate disposal facilities in accordance with the
provisions of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982
have not met the timetables contemplated by such
Act.
(5) The Secretary of Energy has an obligation
to take title to and possession of high-level radio-
active waste and spent nuclear fuel beginning not
later than January 31, 1998.
(6) Notwithstanding the passage of 12 years
since enactment of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of
1982, the payment of more than $8,400,000,000
into the Nuclear Waste Fund during such period,
and the additional programmatic direction provided
by the Congress in the 1987 amendments to such
Act, the projected date of commencement of oper-
ations at a repository is, under the most optimistic
of assumptions, 2010.
(7) Until a repository is operational, interim
storage will continue to be required for high-level ra-
dioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
SEC. 3. FEDERAL OBLIGATIONS REGARDING HIGH-LEVEL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND SPENT NUCLEAR
FUEL.
Section 302(a) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of
1982 (42 U.S.C. 10222(a)) is amended by adding at the
end the following new paragraph:
‘‘(7)(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this
Act or other law, the terms of the contracts entered into
pursuant to this section, or the commencement of oper-
ations of a repository, the Secretary shall, by not later
than January 31, 1998—
‘‘(i) take title to the high-level radioactive waste
and spent nuclear fuel covered by such contracts;
‘‘(ii) begin taking possession of such waste and
spent fuel in accordance with the Federal Integrated
Spent Nuclear Fuel Management Program estab-
lished in section 162; and
‘‘(iii) establish an interim spent nuclear fuel
storage facility at 1 or more Federal sites.
‘‘(B) The Secretary shall provide not less than 30
days advance notification to the Congress of any inability
of the Secretary to meet any deadline specified in subpara-
graph (A).’’.
SEC. 4. PERMIT AND LICENSING REQUIREMENTS.
Section 185 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42
U.S.C. 2235) is amended by adding at the end the follow-
ing new subsection:
‘‘c. (1) Notwithstanding any other law, no construc-
tion permit or combined construction and operating li-
cense may be issued for a utilization facility used for the
generation of electricity for commercial sale until—
‘‘(A) there is a facility licensed by the Federal
Government for the interim storage or permanent
disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent
nuclear fuel generated by the utilization facility; and
‘‘(B) the Secretary of Energy certifies that the
storage or disposal facility has, or is reasonably ex-
pected to have, an adequate volume of capacity to
accept all of the high-level radioactive waste and
spent nuclear fuel that will be generated by the utili-
zation facility during the reasonably foreseeable
operational lifetime of the utilization facility.
‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any construc-
tion permit or combined construction and operating li-
cense for which an application is filed before the date of
the enactment of this subsection.’’.
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