STRANDED Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1290 To assist communities affected by stranded nuclear waste, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 21, 2021 Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. KING, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. MARKEY, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To assist communities affected by stranded nuclear waste, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sensible, Timely Relief 4 for America’s Nuclear Districts’ Economic Development 5 Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘STRANDED Act of 2021’’. 6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 7 Congress finds that— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1290.IS S1290 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1290 IS (1) in 1982, Congress authorized the Secretary 1 of Energy and the Chairman of the Nuclear Regu- 2 latory Commission to safely manage and dispose of 3 the most highly radioactive nuclear waste of the 4 United States, a responsibility that includes— 5 (A) removing spent nuclear fuel from com- 6 mercial nuclear power plants for a fee; and 7 (B) transporting the spent fuel to— 8 (i) a permanent geological repository; 9 or 10 (ii) an interim storage facility before 11 permanent disposal; 12 (2) for more than 30 years, nuclear power 13 plants have operated in good faith that the Federal 14 Government would establish a permanent geological 15 repository; 16 (3) communities affected by stranded nuclear 17 waste are in fact interim nuclear waste storage sites; 18 (4) the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 19 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.)— 20 (A) directed the Secretary to make annual 21 impact assistance payments to States or appro- 22 priate units of local government to mitigate the 23 social and economic impacts of the establish- 24 ment and operation of interim nuclear waste 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1290.IS S1290 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1290 IS storage capacity within the jurisdictional bound- 1 aries of an affected community; and 2 (B) established the rate for impact assist- 3 ance payments at $15 per kilogram of spent 4 nuclear fuel; 5 (5) decommissioning a commercial nuclear 6 power plant is often catastrophic for the host com- 7 munity because nuclear power plants are major em- 8 ployers and the primary source of local tax revenue; 9 (6) stranded nuclear waste is a profound obsta- 10 cle to future economic growth, deterring potential 11 employers and residents from considering the host 12 community; 13 (7) stranded nuclear waste prevents economic 14 development in communities in which the stranded 15 nuclear waste is located; and 16 (8) it is critical to provide resources to commu- 17 nities that— 18 (A) are challenged by stranded nuclear 19 waste; or 20 (B) will be challenged by stranded nuclear 21 waste during the 10-year period beginning on 22 the date of enactment of this Act. 23 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 24 In this Act: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1290.IS S1290 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1290 IS (1) ACADEMY.—The term ‘‘Academy’’ means 1 the National Academy of Sciences. 2 (2) AFFECTED COMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘af- 3 fected community’’ means a unit of local govern- 4 ment, including a county, city, town, village, school 5 district, or special district, that contains stranded 6 nuclear waste within the boundaries of the unit of 7 local government, as determined by the Secretary. 8 (3) ELIGIBLE CIVILIAN NUCLEAR POWER 9 PLANT.—The term ‘‘eligible civilian nuclear power 10 plant’’ means a nuclear power plant that— 11 (A) has been decommissioned; or 12 (B) is in the process of being decommis- 13 sioned. 14 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 15 the Secretary of Energy. 16 (5) STRANDED NUCLEAR WASTE.—The term 17 ‘‘stranded nuclear waste’’ means nuclear waste or 18 spent nuclear fuel stored in dry casks or spent fuel 19 pools at a decommissioned or decommissioning nu- 20 clear facility. 21 SEC. 4. INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS PRIZE COMPETITION. 22 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 23 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall es- 24 tablish under section 24 of the Stevenson-Wydler Tech- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1290.IS S1290 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1290 IS nology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719) a com- 1 petitive prize competition (referred to in this section as 2 the ‘‘prize competition’’) to award prizes for proposals for 3 affected communities to carry out alternatives to nuclear 4 facilities, generating sites, and waste sites. 5 (b) PRIZE BOARD.— 6 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established an 7 advisory board (referred to in this section as the 8 ‘‘Board’’) to advise the Secretary on— 9 (A) the design and implementation of the 10 prize competition; and 11 (B) the development of each pilot project 12 under subsection (d). 13 (2) COMPOSITION.—The Board shall be com- 14 posed of not fewer than 9 members appointed by the 15 Secretary— 16 (A) who shall provide expertise in— 17 (i) nuclear waste; 18 (ii) workforce issues; 19 (iii) technology development; and 20 (iv) economic development; and 21 (B) who may include representatives 22 from— 23 (i) the National Laboratories; 24 (ii) nonprofit organizations; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1290.IS S1290 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1290 IS (iii) institutions of higher education. 1 (c) AWARD AMOUNT.—An award under the prize 2 competition shall be in the amount of $500,000. 3 (d) PILOT PROJECT.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta- 5 tion with the Board, shall develop a pilot project 6 based on each proposal for which a prize is awarded 7 under the prize competition. 8 (2) FUNDING.—Of the amounts made available 9 under section 8, the Secretary may use $500,000 to 10 carry out each pilot project under paragraph (1). 11 (e) REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after the date 12 on which a prize is awarded under the prize competition, 13 the Secretary shall submit to the relevant committees of 14 Congress a report that describes the proposal for which 15 the prize was awarded. 16 SEC. 5. STRANDED NUCLEAR WASTE TASK FORCE. 17 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 18 a task force, to be known as the ‘‘Stranded Nuclear Waste 19 Task Force’’— 20 (1) to conduct a study on existing public and 21 private resources and funding for which affected 22 communities may be eligible; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1290.IS S1290 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1290 IS (2) to develop immediate and long-term eco- 1 nomic adjustment plans tailored to the needs of each 2 affected community. 3 (b) STUDY.—Not later than 180 days after the date 4 of enactment of this Act, the Stranded Nuclear Waste 5 Task Force shall complete and submit to Congress the 6 study described in subsection (a). 7 SEC. 6. ECONOMIC IMPACT GRANTS. 8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 60 days after 9 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall es- 10 tablish and carry out a noncompetitive grant program to 11 provide financial assistance to units of local government 12 within the jurisdictional boundary of which an eligible ci- 13 vilian nuclear power plant is located to offset the economic 14 and social impacts of stranded nuclear waste in affected 15 communities. 16 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—A unit of local government that is 17 an affected community shall be eligible to receive a grant 18 under this section for a fiscal year. 19 (c) AWARDS.— 20 (1) AMOUNT.—The amount of a grant awarded 21 under subsection (a) shall be equal to $15 for each 22 kilogram of spent nuclear fuel stored at the eligible 23 civilian nuclear power plant in the affected commu- 24 nity. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1290.IS S1290 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1290 IS (2) NUMBER AND FREQUENCY.—With respect 1 to each eligible civilian nuclear power plant, the Sec- 2 retary may only award 1 grant under subsection (a) 3 to each eligible unit of local government for each fis- 4 cal year. 5 SEC. 7. ANNUAL REPORT. 6 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 7 of this Act, and annually thereafter through fiscal year 8 2026, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 9 that— 10 (1) describes and evaluates the progress and ef- 11 fectiveness of— 12 (A) the prize competition established under 13 section 4(a); 14 (B) each pilot project established under 15 section 4(d); and 16 (C) the grant program established under 17 section 6(a); and 18 (2) provides recommendations for legislative, 19 regulatory, or other changes to improve the prize 20 competition, pilot projects, or grant program de- 21 scribed in paragraph (1), as applicable. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1290.IS S1290 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1290 IS SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro- 2 priated to the Secretary to carry out this Act 3 $175,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026. 4 (b) NO OFFSET.—None of the funds made available 5 under this section may be used to offset the funding for 6 any other Federal program. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1290.IS S1290 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS