Nuclear Waste Management Agency Act of 2013
(Introduced
in Senate/House)
S./H.R.___________
113th
CONGRESS
1st Session
S./H.R.____________
To amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C.
10101) to establish the United States Nuclear Waste Management Agency to manage
all Federal and civilian spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste
management programs currently under the control of the United States Department
of Energy; to establish and operate low-level radioactive waste receipt, supplementary
segregation, treatment and burial or monitored/retrievable storage facilities on
a fee basis; and to promote spent nuclear fuel reprocessing as a viable
technology to aid in achieving and maintaining our national security and
National Energy Policy goals, and for its potential to significantly reduce the
total volume of radioactive waste designated for disposal in a Federal geologic
repository.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April__ (legislative day, APRIL___), 2013
Mr./Ms.____________ introduced the following bill; which was
read twice and referred to the
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the Nuclear Waste
Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101) to establish the United States Nuclear
Waste Management Agency to manage all Federal and civilian spent nuclear fuel
and high-level radioactive waste management programs currently under the
control of the United States Department of Energy; to establish and operate
low-level radioactive waste receipt, supplementary segregation, treatment and
burial or monitored/retrievable storage facilities on a fee basis; and to promote
spent nuclear fuel reprocessing as a viable technology to aid in achieving and
maintaining our national security and National Energy Policy goals, and for its
potential to significantly reduce the total volume of radioactive waste
designated for disposal in a Federal geologic repository.
Be
it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America
SECTION
1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT
TITLE- This Act may be cited as the Nuclear Waste Management Agency Act of 2013.
(b) TABLE
OF CONTENTS- The table of contents of this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of
contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Purposes and Policies.
SECTION 2. FINDINGS.
The
Congress finds that—
1. The
United States Department of Energy (hereafter referred to as the DOE) has
failed to provide suitable off-site commercial spent nuclear fuel (hereafter referred
to as SNF) disposal to the commercial nuclear utilities per the Nuclear Waste
Policy Amendments Act of 1987; yet to date, nearly $18 billion dollars has been
paid into the Nuclear Waste Fund by the electric utility ratepayers, and the
fund has accumulated a total of nearly $35 billion including interest. Also, the projected date for completion of
the geologic repository by the DOE to begin emplacement of SNF was previously revised
from 2010 to a new projected date of 2017 until the project was deemed no
longer an option for storing SNF and other high-level waste (HLW) in 2009; while
the original congressionally mandated date for having a geologic repository
available was 1998.
2.
There are presently 15 shutdown reactors at 14 sites in
10 states that are storing over 3,600 metric tons of uranium (MTUs) in the form
of SNF in either dry storage casks or spent fuel pools. Also, a total of over 60,000 MTUs of
commercial SNF, in addition to nearly 13,000 MTUs of government-held SNF and
defense-related HLW, is being stored at 121 sites in 39 states.
3. As
of the beginning of Federal fiscal year 2012, beginning in annual year 2007, 18
applications for constructing a total of 27 new reactor units in the United
States had been received by the United States Nuclear Regulatory
Commission. Out of that number, only
five applications for a total of six new reactor unit units have been
suspended, leaving 12 applications for a total of 21 new reactor units to be
reviewed. Out of those 12 applications,
four for a total of four new reactor units are in the Review Complete stage,
and the other eight applications for a total of 16 new reactor units are
currently in the Accepted/Docketed stage.
Further, applications for constructing more new nuclear power plants in
the United States are projected to be submitted during annual year 2012 and
beyond.
4.
The DOE has not addressed the issue of civilian low-level
radioactive waste disposal despite the fact that the Low-Level Radioactive
Waste Policy Act of 1980, as amended in 1985, has not lived up to the original
expectations of the legislation due to the continuing inability of the various
low-level radioactive waste compacts to develop low-level radioactive waste
disposal facilities for use by members of the respective compacts, nor is it
the DOE’s responsibility to do so under existing legislation.
5.
Commercial SNF reprocessing is an acceptable, practical
means of fulfilling the nuclear fuel needs, while concurrently reducing the
need for geologic repository space, in other industrialized nations that rely
to a great degree on nuclear power for their electricity. Despite this fact, reprocessing efforts in
the U.S. U.S.
accepts and condones commercial SNF reprocessing in such countries as France , India ,
Japan , Russia and the United Kingdom
6.
Numerous Government Accountability Office reports have
proven the DOE continues to lack effective program management, and many key
projects managed by the DOE experience cost overruns and are not completed by
the projected dates. The inability of
the DOE to provide SNF disposal services to our commercial nuclear power plants
in a timely manner is causing additional, undue financial hardships on our
nuclear utilities due to the need to license and construct on-site dry storage
cask facilities and/or purchase additional dry storage casks to support
prolonged on-site storage of SNF. The
following are three examples of the additional costs presently borne, or
anticipated to be borne, by the Federal Government due to the DOE’s inability
to provide services to the nuclear power industry in a timely manner, with such
costs to be paid out of the Judgment Fund:
a. The
DOE recently settled a lawsuit by the Exelon Corporation, the nation’s largest nuclear power plant
operator, for $80 million in past costs for
SNF storage. If Yucca Mountain
b. The
U.S. Federal Court of Claims recently awarded nearly $150 million in damages to three Northeast utilities
that sued the Federal Government for the
DOE’s failure to provide timely SNF disposal services; and
c. To date, more than 60 lawsuits have been
filed against the DOE pertaining to the SNF issue, with the total Federal liability
for the prolonged storing of SNF at nuclear power plant sites estimated to be over
$60 billion.
7.
A financially autonomous, Federal corporation model
would be ideally suited to effectively managing our nation’s SNF, high-level
radioactive waste, and low-level radioactive waste. Such a model was proposed by the Nuclear
Waste Strategy Coalition in its analysis publication entitled Redesigning the
U.S. High Level Nuclear Waste Disposal Program For Effective Management,
January 1995. Such a model is also similar
to the Independent Federal Authority discussed by the DOE’s Office of Civilian
Radioactive Waste Management in its publication entitled Alternative Means
of Financing and Managing the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program
(DOE/RW-0546), August 2001. Also, a
Federal corporation model would be ideally suited to providing the full array
of radioactive waste management services to government and industry because it would
be the most capable of the models for accurately assessing and meeting demands
for service from a broad base of customers due to its business acumen, it would
be accountable to outside regulators, and it would emphasize efficiency in all
facets of operation.
SECTION 3. DEFINITIONS.
For the
purposes of this Act:
1. The term
`contract holder' means a party to a contract with the Executive Director of
the United States Nuclear Waste Management Agency for the disposal of spent
nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste entered into pursuant to section
302(a) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10222(a)), as amended
by this Act; and
2. The
terms ‘Secretary’, `Administrator', `civilian nuclear power reactor',
`Commission', `Department', `disposal', `high-level radioactive waste', `Indian
tribe', `repository', `reservation', `spent nuclear fuel', `State', `storage',
`Waste Fund', and `Yucca Mountain site' shall have the meanings given such
terms in section 2 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101),
as amended by this Act.
3. As
previously stated in this legislation the United States Department of Energy is
referred to as the DOE, and OCRWM stands for the DOE’s Office of Civilian
Radioactive Waste Management.
SECTION 4. PURPOSES AND POLICIES.
TITLE 1 -- UNITED STATES NUCLEAR WASTE MANAGEMENT
AGENCY
TITLE 2 --
SUPPORT FOR SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL REPROCESSING
TITLE I—UNITED STATES NUCLEAR WASTE MANAGEMENT AGENCY
SEC. 101. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND PROGRAM SCHEDULES.
(a) IN
GENERAL- Congress shall approve the creation of an autonomous federal agency,
established as a Federal corporation, to manage the Federal SNF and high-level
radioactive waste repository and low-level radioactive waste management programs
currently under the control of the DOE, and to license, construct and operate
civilian low-level radioactive waste receipt, supplementary segregation,
treatment and burial or monitored/retrievable storage facilities on a fee basis. This agency shall be called the United States
Nuclear Waste Management Agency (hereafter referred to as the NWMA). The agency shall be governed by a Board of
Governors, hereafter referred to as the Board, comprised of members selected
from and representing the following organizations: DOE (1 member), Nuclear
Energy Institute (1 member), National Association of Regulatory Utility
Commissioners (1 member), United States Department of the Interior (1 member),
American Nuclear Society (1 member), Health Physics Society (1 member), National
Governors Association (1 member), National Association of State Energy
Officials (1 member), Center for Environment, Commerce & Energy (1 member),
and National Congress of American Indians (1 member). Each Governor shall be appointed by the
President to serve for a period of four years.
The Board, in turn, shall select, with Senate concurrence, an individual
not serving as a member of the Board to serve as the Agency’s chief executive
officer and board chair, with the term of service to be at the pleasure of the
Board. The full title of this position
shall be the Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the
NWMA. The Board Chairman shall have full
voting privileges.
(b) RESPONSIBILITIES
OF THE BOARD--(1) The Board shall convene at a minimum of every calendar
quarter, not to exceed a period of 90 consecutive days, and at a Board approved
location within the United
States
(2) The Board shall establish and approve salaries
and bonuses, with such salaries not limited by current Federal executive pay
schedules, for the agency’s executives, with the maximum annual salary,
excluding bonuses, of the Executive Director not to exceed $360,000 per annum
for the first year with annual cost of living increases permitted
thereafter. The annual salary for each
program director immediately below the position of Executive Director shall not
exceed $300,000 for the first year, excluding bonuses, with annual cost of
living increases permitted thereafter.
The Board shall also establish and approve travel and per diem payments
for members of the Board while performing in an official Board capacity;
(3) The Board shall establish and approve agency
policies and procedures consistent with
Federal personnel management policies and regulations and with all
pertinent nuclear industry regulations, including Title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations - Energy, Parts 0 to 199; Title 40 of the Code of Federal
Regulations - Environment, Parts 190, 191, 194 and 197; and Title 49 of the
Code of Federal Regulations - Transportation, Parts 171, 172 and 173;
(4) The Board shall establish fees for providing
radioactive waste management and environmental restoration services performed
by the NWMA, and shall approve all activities proposed by the Executive
Director to be necessary to support the pertinent Federal, State and local
government, academic, medical, nuclear power industry and all other public and
private programs desirous of radioactive waste support services, including
low-level radioactive waste supplementary segregation, treatment and burial or
monitored/retrievable storage services.
(c)
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR--(1) The
Executive Director shall be responsible for the overall operation of the
day-to-day activities of the NMWA, and shall have the authority to establish
desired performance goals and management standards for the NWMA;
(2)
The Executive Director shall, within 120 days of
confirmation, present a DOE assets transition plan and organization chart to
the Board for its approval, with all desired DOE assets to be transferred to
the NWMA in a timely manner commencing 60 days from the date of the Board’s presentation
of its approval to Congress or as otherwise directed by Congress, with the date
of completion of the transfer of all desired assets to be jointly established by
Congress and the President;
(3)
With the realization that knowledgeable, efficient and
enthusiastic employees are the most valuable asset of any organization, the
Executive Director is empowered to devise and implement an effective training
program that will enable all employees to perform their duties safely and
efficiently, and that will encourage employees to excel in their respective
fields of endeavor and their careers; to devise and implement a performance
appraisal program that will ensure fairness, thoroughness and honesty in the
review of each employee’s performance; to devise and implement a promotion
system that ensures fairness based on the strict adherence to Federal merit
promotion principles; to devise and implement a realistic employee awards and
recognition program to recognize employees who are truly deserving of such
recognition; and to devise and implement a program for ensuring accountability
at all levels, especially at the management levels in order to maintain an
optimum degree of professionalism throughout the NWMA;
(4)
The Executive Director shall have the authority to maintain,
modify or cancel any existing contracts with contract holders providing
services on previously owned DOE facilities that have been transferred to the NWMA. Further, the Executive Director shall have
the authority to impose fines against and/or cancel contract payments to
contract holders if their performance does not adhere to acceptable standards
as established by the NWMA, including failing to meet expectations for the
timely and cost effective completion of contracted services;
(5)
The Executive Director shall submit an annual report,
as approved by the Board, to Congress on the status of all pertinent activities
of the NWMA, including projected and actual completion dates of key activities.
(d)
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SECRETARY-- (1) upon the
establishment of the NWMA and within a time frame jointly specified by Congress
and the President, the Secretary shall ensure the completion of the transfer to
the NWMA the control of the Yucca Mountain Project, the Waste Isolation Pilot
Plant (hereafter referred to as WIPP), and any other DOE owned facilities
deemed necessary by the Executive Director to enable the NWMA to fulfill its
congressionally mandated activities. The
transfers shall also include DOE staff currently employed at those facilities,
based upon the review of their respective qualifications by, and the approval
of, the Executive Director. Any DOE
employees not transferring to the NWMA will be promptly reassigned by the
Secretary to other duties within the DOE;
(2)
Within the same time frame the Secretary shall transfer
to the NWMA all existing contracts, and all pertinent funds previously
budgeted, to support the projects and facilities that are transferred to the NWMA.
(e)
RESPONSIBILITIES OF CONGRESS -- (1) Congress shall exercise
greater flexibility in the disbursement of the Nuclear Waste Fund (hereafter
referred to as the NWF) to enable the NWMA to meet projected completion dates
on projects intended to be funded by the NWF, as deemed essential by the Board,
and with the approval of Congress;
(2)
Congress shall authorize the NWMA to establish and
collect fees for providing low-level radioactive waste receipt, supplementary segregation,
treatment and burial or monitored/retrievable storage services, performing
environmental restoration services, and other pertinent support activities as
deemed essential by the Board;
(3)
Congress shall authorize the NWMA to construct an
interim, centralized SNF storage facility on or near the Yucca Mountain
Geologic Repository site or on other Federal or Tribal lands, with the
concurrence of the Department of the Interior, with the interim storage
facility to be operational by a date specified by Congress;
(4)
Congress shall authorize the NWMA, upon transfer of the
WIPP site, to commence the licensing activities for commercial low-level
radioactive waste receipt, supplementary segregation, treatment and burial or
monitored/retrievable storage at the WIPP, with the site to be fully licensed,
operational and receiving shipments of low-level radioactive waste consisting
of Classes A, B, C and greater than C, up to and including Highway Route
Controlled Quantities (as defined by U.S. Department of Transportation
regulations), not later that three years from the date of the transfer of the
WIPP site;
(5)
Congress shall authorize the NWMA, with the concurrence
of the Department of the Interior, to select other Federal or Tribal lands to
serve as low-level radioactive waste receipt, supplementary segregation,
treatment and burial or monitored/retrievable storage sites, and to pursue
licensing and construction activities as deemed necessary by the Board.
TITLE II -- SUPPORT FOR SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL
REPROCESSING
SEC. 201. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND PROGRAM SCHEDULES.
(a)
RESPONSIBILITIES OF CONGRESS -- (1) With the
acknowledgement by Congress that SNF is in effect a renewable energy source,
Congress shall authorize the NWMA to pursue the study of SNF reprocessing for
the purposes of significantly reducing the total volume of radioactive waste to
be stored in the Yucca Mountain Geologic Repository, with the emphasis being
placed on determining the most cost effective method(s) while ensuring the
utmost in proliferation-resistant technologies. This activity is essential in
order to ensure sufficient supplies of new nuclear fuel are available to
support the projected growth in our nation’s base load electric generating
capacity for nuclear power plants, especially if SNF reprocessing becomes
inevitable based on dwindling domestic supplies of natural, unprocessed uranium
and the potential for our inability to obtain sufficient supplies of natural,
unprocessed uranium from foreign suppliers due to national security issues or
an increase in the demand for nuclear fuel in the host countries or regions that
may cause the foreign suppliers to significantly reduce the amount of uranium
for export in order to meet their national or regional needs. Further, Congress authorizes the NWMA, to
utilize Federal lands in and around the Yucca Mountain Geologic Repository site
or on other Federal or Tribal lands, with the concurrence of the Department of
the Interior, to license, construct and operate SNF reprocessing facilities,
utilizing proliferation-resistant technologies, if the Federally-owned
facilities are deemed essential to ensuring sufficient supplies of new nuclear
fuel are available to meet and sustain critical national energy demands or other
national security needs, and commercial suppliers are not capable of meeting those
needs;
(2) Since there are conflicting views in the
scientific community regarding the benefits of existing versus advanced SNF
reprocessing technologies for meeting proliferation-resistant standards desired
by the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, Congress shall allocate annual funds
from sources other than the NWF to be used by the NWMA to develop the safest,
most cost effective method(s) of reprocessing SNF to meet desired proliferation-resistant
standards, with the annual fund allocation amount not to exceed $250 million or
a lesser amount as prescribed by Congress;
(3) Congress shall also authorize the NWMA to
negotiate with commercial suppliers of nuclear fuel to incorporate proliferation-resistant
SNF reprocessing into their nuclear fuel manufacturing process, and to have a
national SNF reprocessing capability in place by a date to be determined by
Congress once such a program is proven to be economically feasible based on
market costs for uranium, with the knowledge that there may be finite global
quantities of natural, unprocessed uranium available to meet increasing demands
for nuclear fuel.
Passed the Senate/House (Date).
Attest:
Secretary.
END
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