Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1234 To establish a new organization to manage nuclear waste, provide a consen- sual process for siting nuclear waste facilities, ensure adequate funding for managing nuclear waste, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 30, 2019 Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself, Mr. ALEXANDER, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) intro- duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Energy and Natural Resources A BILL To establish a new organization to manage nuclear waste, provide a consensual process for siting nuclear waste facilities, ensure adequate funding for managing 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2019’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 6 this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 May 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S1234.IS S1234 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1234 IS TITLE I—FINDINGS, PURPOSES, AND DEFINITIONS Sec. 101. Findings. Sec. 102. Purposes. Sec. 103. Definitions. TITLE II—NUCLEAR WASTE ADMINISTRATION Sec. 201. Establishment. Sec. 202. Principal officers. Sec. 203. Other officers. Sec. 204. Inspector General. Sec. 205. Nuclear Waste Oversight Board. Sec. 206. Conforming amendments. TITLE III—FUNCTIONS Sec. 301. Transfer of functions. Sec. 302. Transfer of contracts. Sec. 303. Nuclear waste facilities. Sec. 304. Siting nuclear waste facilities. Sec. 305. Storage facilities. Sec. 306. Repositories. Sec. 307. Licensing nuclear waste facilities. Sec. 308. Defense waste. Sec. 309. Transportation. TITLE IV—FUNDING AND LEGAL PROCEEDINGS Sec. 401. Working Capital Fund. Sec. 402. Nuclear Waste Fund. Sec. 403. Full cost recovery. Sec. 404. Judicial review. Sec. 405. Litigation authority. Sec. 406. Liabilities. TITLE V—ADMINISTRATIVE AND SAVINGS PROVISIONS Sec. 501. Administrative powers of Administrator. Sec. 502. Personnel. Sec. 503. Offices. Sec. 504. Mission plan. Sec. 505. Annual reports. Sec. 506. Savings provisions; terminations. Sec. 507. Technical assistance in the field of spent fuel storage and disposal. Sec. 508. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. Sec. 509. Repeal of volume limitation. TITLE I—FINDINGS, PURPOSES, 1 AND DEFINITIONS 2 SEC. 101. FINDINGS. 3 Congress finds that— 4 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 May 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1234.IS S1234 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1234 IS (1) the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 1 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.)— 2 (A) made the Federal Government respon- 3 sible for providing for the permanent disposal 4 of nuclear waste; 5 (B) vested the responsibility for siting, 6 constructing, and operating a permanent geo- 7 logic repository for the disposal of nuclear 8 waste in the Secretary of Energy; and 9 (C) required the Secretary to enter into 10 binding contracts with the generators and own- 11 ers of nuclear waste pursuant to which the Sec- 12 retary is obligated to have begun disposing of 13 the nuclear waste in a repository not later than 14 January 31, 1998; 15 (2) in 1987, Congress designated the Yucca 16 Mountain site as the site for the repository and pre- 17 cluded consideration of other sites; 18 (3) in 2002, the Secretary found the Yucca 19 Mountain site to be suitable for the development of 20 the repository, the President recommended the site 21 to Congress, and Congress enacted a joint resolution 22 approving the Yucca Mountain site for the reposi- 23 tory; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 May 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1234.IS S1234 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1234 IS (4) in 2008, the Secretary applied to the Nu- 1 clear Regulatory Commission for a license to con- 2 struct a repository at the Yucca Mountain site; 3 (5) in 2009, the Secretary found the Yucca 4 Mountain site to be unworkable and abandoned ef- 5 forts to construct a repository; 6 (6) in 2010, the Secretary, at the request of the 7 President, established the Blue Ribbon Commission 8 on America’s Nuclear Future to conduct a com- 9 prehensive review of the nuclear waste management 10 policies of the United States and recommend a new 11 strategy for managing the nuclear waste of the 12 United States; and 13 (7) the Blue Ribbon Commission has rec- 14 ommended that Congress establish a new nuclear 15 waste management organization and adopt a new 16 consensual approach to siting nuclear waste manage- 17 ment facilities. 18 SEC. 102. PURPOSES. 19 The purposes of this Act are— 20 (1) to establish a new nuclear waste manage- 21 ment organization; 22 (2) to transfer to the new organization the 23 functions of the Secretary relating to the siting, li- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 May 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1234.IS S1234 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1234 IS censing, construction, and operation of nuclear waste 1 management facilities; 2 (3) to establish a new consensual process for 3 the siting of nuclear waste management facilities; 4 (4) to provide for centralized storage of nuclear 5 waste pending completion of a repository; and 6 (5) to ensure that— 7 (A) the generators and owners of nuclear 8 waste pay the full cost of the program; and 9 (B) funds collected for the program are 10 used for that purpose. 11 SEC. 103. DEFINITIONS. 12 In this Act: 13 (1) ADMINISTRATION.—The term ‘‘Administra- 14 tion’’ means the Nuclear Waste Administration es- 15 tablished by section 201. 16 (2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 17 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Administra- 18 tion. 19 (3) AFFECTED INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘af- 20 fected Indian Tribe’’ means any Indian Tribe— 21 (A) within the reservation boundaries of 22 which a repository or storage facility is pro- 23 posed to be located; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 May 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1234.IS S1234 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1234 IS (B) that has federally defined possessory 1 or usage rights to other land outside of the res- 2 ervation boundaries that— 3 (i) arise out of a congressionally rati- 4 fied treaty; and 5 (ii) the Secretary of the Interior finds, 6 on petition of an appropriate governmental 7 official of the Indian Tribe, may be sub- 8 stantially and adversely affected by the re- 9 pository or storage facility. 10 (4) AFFECTED UNIT OF GENERAL LOCAL GOV- 11 ERNMENT.— 12 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘affected 13 unit of general local government’’ means the 14 unit of general local government that has juris- 15 diction over the site of a repository or storage 16 facility. 17 (B) INCLUSION.—The term ‘‘affected unit 18 of general local government’’ may include, at 19 the discretion of the Administrator, units of 20 general local government that are contiguous 21 with the unit that has jurisdiction over the site 22 of a repository or storage facility. 23 (5) CIVILIAN NUCLEAR POWER REACTOR.—The 24 term ‘‘civilian nuclear power reactor’’ has the mean- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 May 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1234.IS S1234 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1234 IS ing given the term in section 2 of the Nuclear Waste 1 Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101). 2 (6) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 3 means the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 4 (7) COMPLIANCE AGREEMENT.—The term 5 ‘‘compliance agreement’’ means a legally enforceable 6 agreement between the Secretary and a Federal or 7 State agency requiring the removal of defense waste 8 from a Department of Energy facility. 9 (8) CONTRACT HOLDER.—The term ‘‘contract 10 holder’’ means any person who— 11 (A) generates or holds title to nuclear 12 waste generated at a civilian nuclear power re- 13 actor; and 14 (B) has entered into a contract for the dis- 15 posal of nuclear waste under section 302(a) of 16 the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 17 U.S.C. 10222(a)) or this Act. 18 (9) DEFENSE WASTE.—The term ‘‘defense 19 waste’’ means nuclear waste generated by an atomic 20 energy defense activity (as defined in section 2 of 21 the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 22 10101)). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 May 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1234.IS S1234 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1234 IS (10) DISPOSAL.—The term ‘‘disposal’’ has the 1 meaning given the term in section 2 of the Nuclear 2 Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101). 3 (11) EMERGENCY DELIVERY.— 4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘emergency 5 delivery’’ means nuclear waste accepted by the 6 Administrator for storage prior to the date pro- 7 vided in the contractual delivery commitment 8 schedule pursuant to article V.D. of the stand- 9 ard contract for disposal of nuclear waste codi- 10 fied in section 961.11 of title 10, Code of Fed- 11 eral Regulations. 12 (B) INCLUSION.—The term ‘‘emergency 13 delivery’’ may include, at the discretion of the 14 Administrator, defense waste that is required to 15 be removed from a Department of Energy facil- 16 ity— 17 (i) pursuant to a compliance agree- 18 ment; or 19 (ii) to eliminate an imminent and seri- 20 ous threat to the health and safety of the 21 public or the common defense and security. 22 (12) HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE.—The 23 term ‘‘high-level radioactive waste’’ has the meaning 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 May 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1234.IS S1234 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1234 IS given the term in section 2 of the Nuclear Waste 1 Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101). 2 (13) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 3 has the meaning given the term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ in 4 section 2 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 5 (42 U.S.C. 10101). 6 (14) MISSION PLAN.—The term ‘‘mission plan’’ 7 means the comprehensive report required under sec- 8 tion 504. 9 (15) NONPRIORITY WASTE.—The term ‘‘nonpri- 10 ority waste’’ means nuclear waste that does not 11 qualify as priority waste. 12 (16) NUCLEAR WASTE.—The term ‘‘nuclear 13 waste’’ means— 14 (A) spent nuclear fuel; and 15 (B) high-level radioactive waste. 16 (17) NUCLEAR WASTE ACTIVITIES.—The term 17 ‘‘nuclear waste activities’’ has the meaning given the 18 term in section 11 of the Atomic Energy Act of 19 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2014). 20 (18) NUCLEAR WASTE FACILITY.—The term 21 ‘‘nuclear waste facility’’ means— 22 (A) a repository; and 23 (B) a storage facility. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 May 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1234.IS S1234 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1234 IS (19) NUCLEAR WASTE FUND.—The term ‘‘Nu- 1 clear Waste Fund’’ means the separate fund in the 2 Treasury established by section 302(c) of the Nu- 3 clear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 4 10222(c)). 5 (20) OVERSIGHT BOARD.—The term ‘‘Oversight 6 Board’’ means the Nuclear Waste Oversight Board 7 established by section 205. 8 (21) PILOT FACILITY.—The term ‘‘pilot facil- 9 ity’’ means the storage facility for priority waste au- 10 thorized by section 303(1). 11 (22) PRIORITY WASTE.—The term ‘‘priority 12 waste’’ means— 13 (A) any emergency delivery; and 14 (B) spent nuclear fuel removed from a ci- 15 vilian nuclear power reactor that has been per- 16 manently shut down. 17 (23) PUBLIC LIABILITY.—The term ‘‘public li- 18 ability’’ has the meaning given the term in section 19 11 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 20 2014). 21 (24) REPOSITORY.—The term ‘‘repository’’ has 22 the meaning given the term in section 2 of the Nu- 23 clear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 May 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1234.IS S1234 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1234 IS (25) RESERVATION.—The term ‘‘reservation’’ 1 has the meaning given the term in section 2 of the 2 Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 3 10101). 4 (26) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 5 means the Secretary of Energy. 6 (27) SITE CHARACTERIZATION.— 7 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘site charac- 8 terization’’ means the site-specific activities that 9 the Administrator determines necessary to sup- 10 port an application to the Commission for a li- 11 cense to construct a repository or storage facil- 12 ity under section 305(c). 13 (B) REPOSITORY SITE CHARACTERIZA- 14 TION.—In the case of a site for a repository, 15 the term ‘‘site characterization’’ may include 16 borings, surface excavations, excavations of ex- 17 ploratory shafts, limited subsurface lateral exca- 18 vations and borings, and in situ testing needed 19 to evaluate the suitability of a candidate site for 20 the location of a repository. 21 (C) STORAGE SITE CHARACTERIZATION.— 22 In the case of a site for an above-ground stor- 23 age facility, the term ‘‘site characterization’’ 24 does not include subsurface borings and exca- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 May 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1234.IS S1234 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1234 IS vations that the Administrator determines are 1 uniquely associated with underground disposal 2 and unnecessary to evaluate the suitability of a 3 candidate site for the location of an above- 4 ground storage facility. 5 (D) PRELIMINARY ACTIVITIES.—The term 6 ‘‘site characterization’’ does not include prelimi- 7 nary borings and geophysical testing needed to 8 assess whether site characterization should be 9 undertaken. 10 (28) SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL.—The term ‘‘spent 11 nuclear fuel’’ has the meaning given the term in sec- 12 tion 2 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 13 U.S.C. 10101). 14 (29) STORAGE.—The term ‘‘storage’’ means the 15 temporary retention of nuclear waste pending the 16 disposal of the nuclear waste in a repository. 17 (30) STORAGE FACILITY.—The term ‘‘storage 18 facility’’ means a facility for the consolidated storage 19 of nuclear waste from multiple contract holders or 20 the Secretary pending the disposal of the spent nu- 21 clear fuel in a repository. 22 (31) UNIT OF GENERAL LOCAL GOVERN- 23 MENT.—The term ‘‘unit of general local govern- 24 ment’’ has the meaning given the term in section 2 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 May 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1234.IS S1234 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 13 •S 1234 IS of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 1 10101). 2 (32) WORKING CAPITAL FUND.—The [Text truncated for display. 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