I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5761 
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 11, 2006 
Mr. SANDERS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to improve 
the material control and accounting and data manage-
ment 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. 
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 ‘‘Spent Nuclear Fuel 
Control and Accounting Act of 2006’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
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(1) several incidents involving missing or unac-
counted-for spent nuclear fuel have occurred at civil-
ian nuclear power reactors, including— 
(A) the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power 
Plant; 
(B) the Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power 
Plant (California); and 
(C) the Millstone Nuclear Power Station 
(Connecticut); 
(2) weaknesses in the accounting and control of 
spent nuclear fuel have been identified at several 
other civilian nuclear power reactors; 
(3) data provided by the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission indicate that— 
(A) operators of most civilian nuclear 
power reactors have removed spent fuel rods 
from their fuel assemblies; and 
(B) those rods are stored onsite in spent 
fuel pools or dry casks or have been shipped 
offsite to a storage facility; 
(4) individual spent fuel rods and fragments 
may also result from the loading of a new assembly 
and therefore may be new fuel; 
(5) individual spent fuel rods, and especially 
fragments of spent fuel rods, are— 
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(A) highly radioactive; and 
(B) much smaller and lighter than fuel as-
semblies; 
(6) while regulations promulgated by the Nu-
clear Regulatory Commission require civilian nuclear 
power reactors to control and account for spent nu-
clear fuel, they do not cover— 
(A) individual spent fuel rods that have 
been removed from an assembly; and 
(B) fragments of spent fuel rods; 
(7) the storage and oversight of individual 
spent fuel rods at civilian nuclear power reactors 
have not been managed in a consistent manner; 
(8) the lack of specific guidance in the regula-
tions promulgated by the Nuclear Regulatory Com-
mission relating to how civilian nuclear power reac-
tors should conduct physical inventories has resulted 
in inconsistent compliance with those regulations; 
(9) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission does 
not evaluate the compliance of civilian nuclear power 
reactors with the material control and accounting 
regulations promulgated by the Commission; 
(10) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has 
much to do to implement the recommendations listed 
in the report published by the Government Account-
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ability Office titled ‘‘NRC Needs to Do More to En-
sure that Power Plants Are Effectively Controlling 
Spent Nuclear Fuel’’; and 
(11) the effective implementation of material 
control and accounting regulations by civilian nu-
clear power reactors is of great importance to the 
United States because of the potential safety and se-
curity consequences for failing to manage spent nu-
clear fuel, especially in the aftermath of terrorist at-
tacks in the United States. 
SEC. 3. MATERIAL CONTROL AND ACCOUNTING OF DIS-
MANTLED FUEL ASSEMBLY. 
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 
10101 et seq.) is amended by adding after section 137 
the following: 
‘‘SEC. 138. MATERIAL CONTROL AND ACCOUNTING OF INDI-
VIDUAL RODS AND FRAGMENTS FROM A DIS-
MANTLED FUEL ASSEMBLY. 
‘‘(a) PROMULGATION OF REGULATIONS.—The Com-
mission shall promulgate regulations to require each civil-
ian nuclear power reactor to provide to the Commission 
a report that contains a detailed record of each individual 
spent fuel rod, and each fragment of a spent fuel rod, that 
results from the loading or dismantling of a fuel assembly. 
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‘‘(b) ANNUAL INSPECTION.—The Commission shall 
promulgate regulations to require an annual inspection by 
the Commission of each civilian nuclear power reactor to 
determine the compliance of the civilian nuclear power re-
actor with regulations relating to the material control and 
accounting of spent nuclear fuel promulgated by the Com-
mission. 
‘‘SEC. 139. GUIDANCE FOR STORING INDIVIDUAL FUEL 
RODS AND FRAGMENTS. 
‘‘The Commission shall develop and make available 
to each civilian nuclear power reactor guidance that de-
scribes— 
‘‘(1) best management practices relating to— 
‘‘(A) the procedures that a civilian nuclear 
power reactor should use to store individual fuel 
rods and fragments on site; and 
‘‘(B) the selection of suitable locations for 
the storage of individual fuel rods and frag-
ments; and 
‘‘(2) suitable inventory practices relating to— 
‘‘(A) the manner in which a civilian nu-
clear power reactor should conduct an annual 
inventory of any spent nuclear fuel, including 
individual fuel rods and fragments; and 
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‘‘(B) the manner in which a civilian nu-
clear power reactor should catalogue each item 
of spent nuclear fuel, including individual rods 
and fragments located at the civilian nuclear 
power reactor. 
‘‘SEC. 140. ELECTRONIC DATA MANAGEMENT AND WASTE 
TRACKING SYSTEM. 
‘‘(a) DEVELOPMENT OF SYSTEM.—The Commission 
shall develop an electronic data management and waste 
tracking system— 
‘‘(1) to store and access the records of each ci-
vilian nuclear power reactor; and 
‘‘(2) to track the location of spent nuclear fuel 
including individual rods and fragments. 
‘‘(b) ADOPTION
OF ELECTRONIC DATA MANAGE-
MENT AND WASTE TRACKING SYSTEM BY CIVILIAN NU-
CLEAR POWER REACTORS.—The Commission shall pro-
mulgate regulations to require each civilian nuclear power 
reactor— 
‘‘(1) in the case of a civilian nuclear power re-
actor that is licensed before the date of enactment 
of this section, to digitize the existing records of the 
civilian nuclear power reactor; and 
‘‘(2) in the case of a civilian nuclear power re-
actor that is licensed on or after the date of enact-
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