Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2699 To amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 14, 2019 Mr. MCNERNEY (for himself, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. PETERS, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mrs. LESKO, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. UPTON, Mr. KEATING, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. COURTNEY, and Mr. BALDERSON) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Natural Resources, Armed Services, the Budget, and Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi- sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, 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 Policy Amendments Act of 2019’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6 this Act is as follows: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2699.IH H2699 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2699 IH Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—MONITORED RETRIEVABLE STORAGE Sec. 101. Monitored retrievable storage. Sec. 102. Authorization and priority. Sec. 103. Conditions for MRS agreements. Sec. 104. Survey. Sec. 105. Site selection. Sec. 106. Benefits agreement. Sec. 107. Licensing. Sec. 108. Financial assistance. TITLE II—PERMANENT REPOSITORY Sec. 201. Land withdrawal, jurisdiction, and reservation. Sec. 202. Application procedures and infrastructure activities. Sec. 203. Pending repository license application. Sec. 204. Limitation on planning, development, or construction of defense waste repository. Sec. 205. Sense of Congress regarding transportation routes. TITLE III—DOE CONTRACT PERFORMANCE Sec. 301. Title to material. TITLE IV—BENEFITS TO HOST COMMUNITY Sec. 401. Consent. Sec. 402. Content of agreements. Sec. 403. Covered units of local government. Sec. 404. Termination. Sec. 405. Priority funding for certain institutions of higher education. Sec. 406. Disposal of spent nuclear fuel. Sec. 407. Updated report. TITLE V—FUNDING Sec. 501. Assessment and collection of fees. Sec. 502. Use of Waste Fund. Sec. 503. Annual multiyear budget proposal. Sec. 504. Availability of certain amounts. TITLE VI—MISCELLANEOUS Sec. 601. Certain standards and criteria. Sec. 602. Application. Sec. 603. Transportation safety assistance. Sec. 604. Office of Spent Nuclear Fuel. Sec. 605. Subseabed or ocean water disposal. Sec. 606. Budgetary effects. Sec. 607. Requirement for financial statements summary. Sec. 608. Stranded nuclear waste. VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H2699.IH H2699 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2699 IH TITLE I—MONITORED 1 RETRIEVABLE STORAGE 2 SEC. 101. MONITORED RETRIEVABLE STORAGE. 3 (a) PROPOSAL.—Section 141(b) of the Nuclear 4 Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10161(b)) is amend- 5 ed— 6 (1) in paragraph (1)— 7 (A) by striking ‘‘1985’’ and inserting 8 ‘‘2019’’; and 9 (B) by striking ‘‘the construction of’’; 10 (2) in paragraph (2)— 11 (A) by amending subparagraph (C) to read 12 as follows: 13 ‘‘(C) designs, specifications, and cost estimates 14 sufficient to— 15 ‘‘(i) solicit bids for the construction of one 16 or more such facilities; and 17 ‘‘(ii) enable completion and operation of 18 such a facility as soon as practicable;’’; 19 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘this 20 Act.’’ and inserting ‘‘this Act; and’’; and 21 (C) by adding at the end the following: 22 ‘‘(E) options to enter into MRS agreements 23 with respect to one or more monitored retrievable 24 storage facilities.’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2699.IH H2699 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2699 IH (3) by amending paragraph (4) to read as fol- 1 lows: 2 ‘‘(4) The Secretary shall, not later than 90 days after 3 the date of enactment of the Nuclear Waste Policy 4 Amendments Act of 2019, publish a request for informa- 5 tion to help the Secretary evaluate options for the Sec- 6 retary to enter into MRS agreements with respect to one 7 or more monitored retrievable storage facilities.’’. 8 (b) ADDITIONAL AMENDMENTS.— 9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 141 of the Nuclear 10 Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10161) is fur- 11 ther amended— 12 (A) in subsection (c)(2)— 13 (i) by striking ‘‘If the Congress’’ and 14 all that follows through ‘‘monitored retriev- 15 able storage facility, the’’ and inserting 16 ‘‘The’’; and 17 (ii) by striking ‘‘construction of such 18 facility’’ and inserting ‘‘construction of a 19 monitored retrievable storage facility’’; and 20 (B) by striking subsections (d) through 21 (h). 22 (2) DEFINITIONS.—Section 2 of the Nuclear 23 Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101) is 24 amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2699.IH H2699 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2699 IH (A) in paragraph (34), by striking ‘‘the 1 storage facility’’ and inserting ‘‘a storage facil- 2 ity’’; and 3 (B) by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(35) The term ‘MRS agreement’ means a co- 5 operative agreement, contract, or other mechanism 6 that the Secretary considers appropriate to support 7 the storage of Department-owned civilian waste in 8 one or more monitored retrievable storage facilities 9 as authorized under section 142(b)(2). 10 ‘‘(36) The term ‘Department-owned civilian 11 waste’ means high-level radioactive waste, or spent 12 nuclear fuel, resulting from civilian nuclear activi- 13 ties, to which the Department holds title.’’. 14 (3) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—Section 146 of 15 the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 16 10166) is amended— 17 (A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘such 18 subsection’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (f) of 19 such section’’; and 20 (B) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘this 21 subsection’’ and inserting ‘‘this section’’. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2699.IH H2699 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2699 IH SEC. 102. AUTHORIZATION AND PRIORITY. 1 Section 142 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 2 (42 U.S.C. 10162) is amended by striking subsection (b) 3 and inserting the following: 4 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION.—Subject to the requirements 5 of this subtitle, the Secretary is authorized to— 6 ‘‘(1) site, construct, and operate one or more 7 monitored retrievable storage facilities; and 8 ‘‘(2) store, pursuant to an MRS agreement, De- 9 partment-owned civilian waste at a monitored re- 10 trievable storage facility for which a non-Federal en- 11 tity holds a license described in section 143(1). 12 ‘‘(c) PRIORITY.— 13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 14 graph (2), the Secretary shall prioritize storage of 15 Department-owned civilian waste at a monitored re- 16 trievable storage facility authorized under subsection 17 (b)(2). 18 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.— 19 ‘‘(A) DETERMINATION.—Paragraph (1) 20 shall not apply if the Secretary determines that 21 it will be faster and less expensive to site, con- 22 struct, and operate a facility authorized under 23 subsection (b)(1), in comparison to a facility 24 authorized under subsection (b)(2). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2699.IH H2699 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2699 IH ‘‘(B) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 30 1 days after the Secretary makes a determination 2 described in subparagraph (A), the Secretary 3 shall submit to Congress written notification of 4 such determination.’’. 5 SEC. 103. CONDITIONS FOR MRS AGREEMENTS. 6 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 143 of the Nuclear Waste 7 Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10163) is amended to read 8 as follows: 9 ‘‘SEC. 143. CONDITIONS FOR MRS AGREEMENTS. 10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may not enter 11 into an MRS agreement under section 142(b)(2) unless— 12 ‘‘(1) the monitored retrievable storage facility 13 with respect to which the MRS agreement applies 14 has been licensed by the Commission under the 15 Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 et 16 seq.); 17 ‘‘(2) the non-Federal entity that is a party to 18 the MRS agreement has approval to store Depart- 19 ment-owned civilian waste at such facility from each 20 of— 21 ‘‘(A) the Governor of the State in which 22 the facility is located; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2699.IH H2699 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2699 IH ‘‘(B) any unit of general local government 1 with jurisdiction over the area in which the fa- 2 cility is located; and 3 ‘‘(C) any affected Indian tribe; 4 ‘‘(3) except as provided in subsection (b), the 5 Commission has issued a final repository decision; 6 and 7 ‘‘(4) the MRS agreement provides that the 8 quantity of high-level radioactive waste and spent 9 nuclear fuel at the site of the facility at any one 10 time will not exceed the limits described in section 11 148(d)(3) and (4). 12 ‘‘(b) INITIAL AGREEMENT.— 13 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary may 14 enter into one MRS agreement under section 15 142(b)(2) before the Commission has issued a final 16 repository decision. 17 ‘‘(2) FUNDING.—There are authorized to be ap- 18 propriated to carry out this subsection— 19 ‘‘(A) for each of fiscal years 2020 through 20 2022, the greater of— 21 ‘‘(i) $50,000,000; or 22 ‘‘(ii) the amount that is equal to 10 23 percent of the amounts appropriated from 24 the Waste Fund in that fiscal year; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2699.IH H2699 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2699 IH ‘‘(B) for each of fiscal years 2023 through 1 2025, the amount that is equal to 10 percent 2 of the amounts appropriated from the Waste 3 Fund in that fiscal year. 4 ‘‘(3) PRIORITY.— 5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An MRS agreement 6 entered into pursuant to paragraph (1) shall, to 7 the extent allowable under this Act (including 8 under the terms of the standard contract estab- 9 lished in section 961.11 of title 10, Code of 10 Federal Regulations), provide for prioritization 11 of the storage of Department-owned civilian 12 waste that originated from any facility that— 13 ‘‘(i) has ceased commercial operation; 14 and 15 ‘‘(ii) is located in— 16 ‘‘(I) an area that is of high seis- 17 micity; and 18 ‘‘(II) close proximity to a major 19 body of water. 20 ‘‘(B) NO EFFECT ON STANDARD CON- 21 TRACT.—Nothing in subparagraph (A) shall be 22 construed to amend or otherwise alter the 23 standard contract established in section 961.11 24 of title 10, Code of Federal Regulations. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2699.IH H2699 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2699 IH ‘‘(4) CONDITIONS.— 1 ‘‘(A) NO STORAGE.—Except as provided in 2 subparagraph (B), the Secretary may not store 3 any Department-owned civilian waste at the ini- 4 tial MRS facility until the Commission has 5 issued a final repository decision. 6 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.— 7 ‘‘(i) FINDING.—The Secretary may 8 make a finding that a final repository deci- 9 sion is imminent, which finding shall be 10 updated not less often than quarterly until 11 the date on which the Commission issues a 12 final repository decision. 13 ‘‘(ii) STORAGE.—If the Secretary 14 makes a finding under clause (i), the Sec- 15 retary may store Department-owned civil- 16 ian waste at the initial MRS facility in ac- 17 cordance with this section. 18 ‘‘(iii) NOTICE.—Not later than 7 days 19 after the Secretary makes or updates a 20 finding under clause (i), the Secretary 21 shall submit to Congress written notifica- 22 tion of such finding. 23 ‘‘(iv) REPORTING.—In addition to the 24 requirements of section 114(c), if the Sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2699.IH H2699 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 2699 IH retary makes a finding under clause (i), 1 the Secretary shall submit to Congress the 2 report described in such section 114(c) not 3 later than 1 month after the Secretary 4 makes such finding and monthly thereafter 5 until the date on which the Commission 6 issues a final repository decision. 7 ‘‘(C) NO EFFECT ON FEDERAL DISPOSAL 8 POLICY.—Nothing in this subsection affects the 9 Federal responsibility for the disposal of high- 10 level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, 11 or the definite Federal policy with regard to the 12 disposal of such waste and spent fuel, estab- 13 lished under subtitle A, as described in section 14 111(b). 15 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 16 ‘‘(1) FINAL REPOSITORY DECISION.—The term 17 ‘final repository decision’ means a final decision ap- 18 proving or disapproving the issuance of a construc- 19 tion authorization for a repository under section 20 114(d)(1). 21 ‘‘(2) INITIAL MRS FACILITY.—The term ‘initial 22 MRS facility’ means the monitored retrievable stor- 23 age facility with respect to which an MRS agreement 24 is entered into pursuant to subsection (b)(1).’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:05 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2699.IH H2699 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 2699 IH (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The item relating 1 to section 143 in the table of contents for the Nuclear 2 Waste Policy Act of 1982 is amended to read as follows: 3 ‘‘Sec. 143. Conditions for MRS agreements.’’. SEC. 104. SURVEY. 4 Section 144 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 5 (42 U.S.C. 10164) is amended— 6 (1) by striking ‘‘After the MRS Commission 7 submits its report to the Congress under section 8 143, the’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The’’; 9 (2) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 10 striking ‘‘for a monitored retrievable storage facil- 11 ity’’ and inserting ‘‘for any monitored retrievable 12 storage facility authorized under section 142’’; 13 (3) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 14 inserting a semicolon; 15 (4) in paragraph (7), by striking the period at 16 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 17 (5) by adding after paragraph (7) the following: 18 ‘‘(8) be acceptable to State authorities, affected 19 units of local government, and affected [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]