Dry Cask Storage Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2854 To amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to provide for the expansion of emergency planning zones and the development of plans for dry cask storage of spent nuclear fuel, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES NOVEMBER 13, 2019 Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. SANDERS, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to provide for the expansion of emergency planning zones and the development of plans for dry cask storage of spent nu- clear fuel, 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 ‘‘Dry Cask Storage Act 4 of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Nov 19, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2854.IS S2854 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2854 IS SEC. 2. EMERGENCY PLANNING ZONES; DRY CASK STOR- 1 AGE OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Nuclear Waste Pol- 3 icy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10121 et seq.) is amended 4 by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘Subtitle I—Emergency Planning 6 Zones; Dry Cask Storage of 7 Spent Nuclear Fuel 8 ‘‘SEC. 185. DEFINITIONS. 9 ‘‘In this subtitle: 10 ‘‘(1) EMERGENCY PLANNING ZONE.—The term 11 ‘emergency planning zone’ means the emergency 12 planning zone that is delineated with respect to the 13 plume exposure pathway (as defined in section 350.2 14 of title 44, Code of Federal Regulations (or any suc- 15 cessor regulation)) of a civilian nuclear power reac- 16 tor. 17 ‘‘(2) LICENSEE.—The term ‘licensee’ has the 18 meaning given the term in section 50.2 of title 10, 19 Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu- 20 lation). 21 ‘‘(3) SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL DRY CASK.—The 22 term ‘spent nuclear fuel dry cask’ means a container 23 (including any components and systems associated 24 with the container) in which spent nuclear fuel is 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Nov 19, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2854.IS S2854 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2854 IS stored at an independent spent fuel storage facil- 1 ity— 2 ‘‘(A) that is— 3 ‘‘(i) licensed by the Commission; and 4 ‘‘(ii) located at a civilian nuclear 5 power reactor site; and 6 ‘‘(B) the design of which— 7 ‘‘(i) includes a realistic security, seis- 8 mic, and flooding design basis, as deter- 9 mined by the Commission; and 10 ‘‘(ii) is approved by the Commission. 11 ‘‘SEC. 186. PLAN FOR DRY CASK STORAGE OF SPENT NU- 12 CLEAR FUEL. 13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 14 the date of enactment of this section, each licensee shall 15 submit to the Commission a plan that provides for— 16 ‘‘(1) by the deadline specified in subsection (b), 17 the transfer to spent nuclear fuel dry casks of any 18 spent nuclear fuel that is— 19 ‘‘(A) stored by the licensee in spent nu- 20 clear fuel pools; and 21 ‘‘(B) qualified to be placed in spent nu- 22 clear fuel dry casks, in accordance with sub- 23 section (d); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Nov 19, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2854.IS S2854 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2854 IS ‘‘(2) on completion of the transfer under para- 1 graph (1), the additional transfer, on an ongoing 2 basis, of any additional spent nuclear fuel that is 3 stored by the licensee in spent nuclear fuel pools and 4 that, after the date of the transfer under paragraph 5 (1), is determined to be qualified to be placed in 6 spent nuclear fuel dry casks, in accordance with sub- 7 section (d), subject to the requirement that each ad- 8 ditional transfer shall be completed by the date that 9 is 1 year after the date on which the applicable 10 spent nuclear fuel is determined to be qualified to be 11 placed in spent nuclear fuel dry casks, in accordance 12 with that subsection; and 13 ‘‘(3) the configuration of the remaining spent 14 nuclear fuel in the spent nuclear fuel pool in a man- 15 ner that minimizes the chance of a fire if there is 16 a loss of water in the spent nuclear fuel pool. 17 ‘‘(b) DEADLINE FOR TRANSFER.—The deadline for 18 transfer referred to in subsection (a)(1) is not later than 19 the date that is 7 years after the date of submission of 20 the plan. 21 ‘‘(c) APPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL BY COMMISSION.— 22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 23 after the date on which a plan is submitted under 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Nov 19, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2854.IS S2854 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2854 IS subsection (a), the Commission shall approve or dis- 1 approve the plan. 2 ‘‘(2) ACTION FOLLOWING DISAPPROVAL.—If the 3 Commission disapproves a plan under paragraph 4 (1), the Commission shall— 5 ‘‘(A) advise the licensee in writing of the 6 reasons for the disapproval; 7 ‘‘(B) make recommendations for revisions 8 to the plan, which shall be submitted to the 9 Commission by the date that is 30 days after 10 the date on which the Commission provides no- 11 tice of the disapproval under subparagraph (A); 12 and 13 ‘‘(C) not later than 30 days after the date 14 of receipt of a revised plan under subparagraph 15 (B), approve or disapprove the revised plan. 16 ‘‘(d) QUALIFICATION FOR PLACEMENT IN SPENT 17 NUCLEAR FUEL DRY CASKS.— 18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 19 graph (2), spent nuclear fuel shall be considered to 20 be qualified to be placed in spent nuclear fuel dry 21 casks under this section if the spent nuclear fuel has 22 been stored in spent nuclear fuel pools for a period 23 of at least 7 years. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Nov 19, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2854.IS S2854 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2854 IS ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding paragraph 1 (1), spent nuclear fuel shall not be considered to be 2 qualified to be placed in spent nuclear fuel dry casks 3 under this section if there does not exist an ap- 4 proved spent nuclear fuel dry cask in which the 5 spent nuclear fuel may be placed. 6 ‘‘(e) GRANTS.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (3), 8 the Commission may provide to any licensee that has 9 a plan approved under subsection (c) a grant to as- 10 sist in the cost of transferring spent nuclear fuel to 11 spent nuclear fuel dry casks under the approved 12 plan. 13 ‘‘(2) PREFERENCE.—In providing grants under 14 paragraph (1), the Commission shall give preference 15 to funding the implementation of approved plans— 16 ‘‘(A) at civilian nuclear power reactors at 17 which the spent nuclear fuel pools are close to 18 being filled to capacity; 19 ‘‘(B) that are supported by the State or 20 unit of local government in which the civilian 21 nuclear power reactor is located; and 22 ‘‘(C) at civilian nuclear power reactors that 23 have permanently ceased operations. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Nov 19, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2854.IS S2854 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2854 IS ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—No grants may be provided 1 under paragraph (1) to a licensee that the Commis- 2 sion determines is not in compliance with the ap- 3 proved plan, in accordance with subsection (f). 4 ‘‘(f) BIENNIAL REVIEW.—Beginning on the date that 5 is 2 years after the date on which a plan is approved under 6 subsection (c) and every 2 years thereafter, the Commis- 7 sion shall conduct a review to determine whether the li- 8 censee is in compliance with the approved plan. 9 ‘‘SEC. 187. EXPANSION AND APPLICABILITY OF EMERGENCY 10 PLANNING ZONE. 11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The emergency planning zone 12 that is applicable to each civilian nuclear power reactor 13 shall be at least 10 miles in radius until the date on which 14 all spent nuclear fuel at the civilian nuclear power reactor 15 has been transferred to spent nuclear fuel dry casks. 16 ‘‘(b) EXPANSION OF EMERGENCY PLANNING 17 ZONE.— 18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 19 graph (2) and subject to paragraph (3), by the date 20 that is 18 months after the date of enactment of 21 this section, the Commission shall expand the emer- 22 gency planning zone that is applicable to each civil- 23 ian nuclear power reactor to 50 miles in radius. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Nov 19, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2854.IS S2854 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2854 IS ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 1 apply to any civilian nuclear power reactor that is in 2 compliance with a plan approved by the Commission 3 under section 186(c), as determined by the Commis- 4 sion under section 186(f). 5 ‘‘(3) PAYMENT OF COSTS.—The licensee shall 6 be responsible for all costs associated with the ex- 7 pansion of the applicable emergency planning zone 8 under paragraph (1).’’. 9 (b) USE OF INTEREST.—Section 302(e) of the Nu- 10 clear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10222(e)) is 11 amended by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(7) USE OF INTEREST.—Annually, the Sec- 13 retary of the Treasury shall transfer to the Commis- 14 sion an amount equal to at least 10 percent of the 15 amount of interest generated during the preceding 16 fiscal year under paragraph (3) for use, without fur- 17 ther appropriation or fiscal year limitation, to pay 18 the costs of carrying out section 186(e).’’. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Nov 19, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2854.IS S2854 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS