2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XVI - Public Health › Chapter 111h - Massachusetts Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Act › Section 33 - Negotiation of Comprehensive Operating Contract; Contents

Section 33. (a) Upon issuance of a facility license pursuant to section thirty-one, the board, after consultation with the community supervisory committee of each site community, and the operator shall negotiate a comprehensive operating contract setting forth, consistent with the management plan adopted under section twelve, the rights and responsibilities of each party with respect to the facility and specifying that site, affected and neighboring communities are third party beneficiaries. The board and the operator shall execute such contract upon the appropriation of funds necessary to ensure that the board can satisfy the community compensation responsibilities thereunder. Such contract shall specify the terms on which the superior site is to be leased to the operator, shall set forth design and performance specifications for the facility, shall establish the right of the board to supervise all aspects of the development, operation, closure and post-closure observation and maintenance of the facility, and shall set the condition that must be satisfied prior to transfer of the facility license pursuant to section forty-six. The commissioner of capital asset management and maintenance shall assist the board in overseeing the development of the facility and shall advise the board on the adequacy of all development activities. The comprehensive operating contract shall also provide that the board may modify or terminate the contract if it determines that a change in the ownership or control, or in the directors or officers of the operator or a change in any of its principal subcontractors may adversely affect the safe development, operation, closure or post-closure observation and maintenance of the facility. In addition, the contract shall provide that:
(1) The operator shall abide by all covenants proposed to be made to each site, neighboring and affected community in the application filed pursuant to section twenty-two or in any written statements submitted pursuant to section twenty-seven.
(2) The board shall abide by any additional covenants undertaken for the benefit of site, affected or neighboring communities which it deems necessary and appropriate. Such covenants may include obligations to reimburse a community for road maintenance or reconstruction or other increased infrastructure costs resulting from siting, development or operation of a facility.
(3) The operator shall annually pay to each site community, during the period commencing with the issuance of a facility license, pursuant to section thirty-one and ending with the transfer of such license to the board pursuant to section forty-six, a sum equal to the amount due to such community in real property taxes, provided, however, upon the transfer of the license from the operator to the board pursuant to section forty-six, each site community, during the period of institutional control, shall receive an amount in lieu of local property taxes in accordance with section seventeen of chapter fifty-eight.
(4) The operator shall annually pay to the site community during the period of the facility's operation, a sum equal to four per cent of the annual gross operating receipts of the facility; provided, however, that, except during the first calendar year of a facility's operation, if the facility accepts less than one hundred thousand cubic feet of low-level radioactive waste in any calendar year, the sum to be paid to the site community pursuant to this section shall not be less than two hundred forty thousand dollars; if the facility accepts one hundred thousand cubic feet or more, but less than two hundred thousand cubic feet, of low-level radioactive waste in any calendar year, the sum to be paid to the site community pursuant to this section shall not be less than three hundred twenty thousand dollars; and if the facility accepts two hundred thousand cubic feet or more of low-level radioactive waste in any calendar year, the sum to be paid to the site community pursuant to this section shall not be less than four hundred thousand dollars; during the first calendar year of a facility's operation, the minimum sum to be paid to the site community pursuant to this section shall be prorated in accordance with a schedule to be agreed upon by the operator and the board. In addition to any other amounts paid pursuant to this paragraph, the operator shall pay one hundred and fifty thousand dollars per year, pro rata, to the site community during the period commencing with the opening of the facility and ending five years after the issuance of a facility license. If a facility is located in more than one community, all amounts paid pursuant to this paragraph shall be divided among the site communities in accordance with the formula established pursuant to section thirty-four.
(5) The operator shall annually pay to the neighboring communities during the period of the facility's operation, a sum equal to one per cent of the annual gross operating receipts of the facility; provided, however, that, except during the first calendar year of a facility's operation, if the facility accepts less than one hundred thousand cubic feet of low-level radioactive waste in any calendar year, the sum to be paid to neighboring communities pursuant to this section shall not be less than sixty thousand dollars; if the facility accepts one hundred thousand cubic feet or more, but less than two hundred thousand cubic feet, of low-level radioactive waste in any calendar year, the sum to be paid to neighboring communities pursuant to this section shall not be less than eighty thousand dollars; and if the facility accepts two hundred thousand cubic feet or more of low-level radioactive waste in any calendar year, the sum to be paid to neighboring communities pursuant to this section shall not be less than one hundred thousand dollars; during the first calendar year of a facility's operation, the minimum sum to be paid to the site community pursuant to this section shall be provided in accordance with a schedule to be agreed upon by the operator and the board; and provided, further, that such sum shall be divided among such communities in accordance with formula established pursuant to section thirty-four.
(6) The operator shall collect a surcharge, established pursuant to section thirty-eight, for the Low-level Radioactive Waste Trust Fund, established in section forty-one, and shall promptly remit the amounts collected, together with any interest accrued thereon, to the state treasurer as treasurer of such Fund.
[There is no subsection (b).]