[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 895 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 895
To provide for interagency planning for preparing for, defending
against, and responding to the consequences of terrorist attacks
against the Yucca Mountain Project, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 17, 2005
Ms. Berkley (for herself, Mr. Matheson, Ms. Carson, Mr. Markey, and Mr.
Rangel) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on
Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for interagency planning for preparing for, defending
against, and responding to the consequences of terrorist attacks
against the Yucca Mountain Project, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Nuclear Waste Terrorist Threat
Assessment and Protection Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City,
Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania were the deadliest and
costliest terrorist attacks against the United States in its
history, resulting in the deaths of over 3,000 people at the
World Trade Center, Pentagon, and Pennsylvania crash site.
(2) The economic and cleanup costs as a result of the
September 11 terrorist attacks are estimated at $1,000,000,000
in New York City alone.
(3) The attacks have resulted in massive economic
disruption to the United States. The New York Stock Exchange's
Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 12 percent and the
NASDAQ market dropped 11.7 percent within the first 2 weeks
after the attacks.
(4) The September 11 attacks represent a dramatic expansion
in the ability of terrorists to inflict massive damage,
including the wide-scale loss of human life and economic
disruption to the United States and the world.
(5) Terrorists are willing to use any and all methods to
bring about their desire to destroy human life and property.
(6) The terrorists who attacked the United States have
demonstrated their willingness and desire to target innocent
civilians.
(7) Terrorists can be expected to continue to improve their
destructive capabilities. Their networks have become more
sophisticated and resourceful in carrying out heinous acts of
destruction.
(8) Since its inception in March 2002, the threat alert has
consistently been at an ``elevated'' level, reaching a level of
``high'' 6 times.
(9) To counter this threat, the United States should take
every reasonable step, consistent with the principles upon
which this country was founded, to restrict terrorists' ability
to inflict damage against the United States.
(10) Instead of making the United States safer, the
proposed Yucca Mountain Project, as currently designed, would
give terrorists an obvious huge, easy-to-attack target that, at
any point, could cause massive economic and civilian casualties
within the United States.
(11) The Yucca Mountain Project proposes to ship 77,000
tons of deadly high-level radioactive nuclear waste throughout
the United States over the next 30 to 40 years. High-level
radioactive nuclear waste is one of the most toxic substances
known to mankind.
(12) While there is concern about the potential terrorist
attacks directed against spent fuel stored at nuclear
facilities, exponentially more radioactive waste would be
stored, including potentially above ground, at Yucca Mountain,
than at any existing nuclear facility, making Yucca Mountain an
inviting target for terrorism.
(13) The waste would be transported by rail and by truck
through at least 43 States, through hundreds of cities and
towns, and through more than 360 congressional districts.
(14) Findings of the Nevada State Nuclear Projects Agency
demonstrate that a July 18, 2001, train accident in a Baltimore
tunnel created a fire situation that would have been hot enough
to breach a nuclear waste cask and release a cloud of suspended
radioactive particles. Such findings conclude that this type of
contamination would spread over 33 square miles, cost more than
$13,000,000,000 to clean up, and cause up to 31,824 cancer-
related deaths.
(15) At almost every stage of the Yucca Mountain Project,
high-level radioactive nuclear waste would be very vulnerable
to terrorist attacks. Terrorists could attack or steal the
waste as it travels on our roads, highways, railways, or
waterways, as it is stored or moved at intermodal storage
facilities or storage depots, or at the proposed repository
itself.
(16) The United States Government, in attempting to
implement the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, has not
sufficiently addressed the threat of terrorist attacks.
(17) The Department of Energy has failed to address the
Yucca Mountain Project's vulnerability to terrorism and
sabotage, intrusions, trespassing, vandalism, arson, and bomb-
related incidents, as expressed by the State of Nevada and
independent researchers throughout the country. As a result,
the Department of Energy has failed to discuss or provide any
plan for prevention and response to terrorist attacks directed
at Yucca Mountain.
(18) The Department of Energy's current methodology for
assessing risks seriously underestimates those associated with
sabotage and terrorism against radioactive shipments, waste
stored at intermodal storage facilities or storage depots, and
at Yucca Mountain itself.
(19) The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the agency in
charge of protecting public health and safety and the
environment from the harmful effects of nuclear waste, has not
revised its rules regarding the transportation of nuclear waste
since the early 1970s. The antiquated rules do not address
modern-day threats and weapons, nor the increased risk posed by
today's most violent and maniacal terrorists.
SEC. 3. YUCCA MOUNTAIN PROJECT VULNERABILITY AND DEFENSE PLAN.
The Secretary of Homeland Security shall coordinate the development
and implementation of an interagency plan, in conjunction with
appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies and with public input,
to prepare for and defend against Federal crimes of terrorism targeting
any aspect of the Yucca Mountain Project. The interagency plan shall--
(1) include a comprehensive analysis of the safety and
vulnerability to Federal crimes of terrorism of the Yucca
Mountain Project;
(2) address attacks against--
(A) rail, truck, and barge shipments of nuclear
waste;
(B) facilities, equipment, infrastructure, and
vehicles used for such shipments of nuclear waste;
(C) personnel working for the Yucca Mountain
Project;
(D) all intermediary, staging, transfer,
intermodal, and temporary storage facilities used for
shipping nuclear waste to the Yucca Mountain
repository;
(E) Yucca Mountain repository facilities, vehicles,
and equipment;
(F) all water and power systems used by the Yucca
Mountain Project; and
(G) nuclear waste containers for transportation,
transfer, or storage;
(3) give special emphasis to addressing--
(A) the use of nuclear waste as a radiological
weapon;
(B) the use of high-energy explosives, antitank
missiles, armor-piercing technologies, and other
sophisticated technologies; and
(C) sabotage or theft of high-level nuclear waste;
(4) include a comprehensive strategy for defending the
Yucca Mountain Project against all Federal crimes of terrorism,
which shall address--
(A) vulnerabilities analyzed under paragraph (1);
(B) the defense of the Yucca Mountain Project
against air and ground assaults, truck bombs, attacks
using sophisticated armor-piercing technologies,
suicide attacks, and other potential military-style
attacks;
(C) credible worst-case assumptions about the
timing and location of potential attacks;
(D) the effects of weather conditions during and
after attacks;
(E) the use of expanded no-fly zones, and the
development of policy regarding infractions of a no-fly
zone, over key areas involved in the Yucca Mountain
Project, with emphasis paid to whether the size of the
no-fly zone is sufficient to protect against an
airborne attack, ways of defending against this type of
attack, and whether there is ample time for our
national defense to defend against an infraction of the
no-fly zone;
(F) the use of background and security checks of
all personnel related to the transport of nuclear waste
to Yucca Mountain;
(G) developing a uniform Federal standard for the
use of deadly force to protect all aspects of the Yucca
Mountain Project; and
(H) specific rules of engagement for a potential
airborne attack; and
(5) include an analysis of the economic, public health, and
environmental costs and impacts of implementing the interagency
plan.
SEC. 4. YUCCA MOUNTAIN PROJECT TERRORISM CONSEQUENCE ASSESSMENT AND
RESPONSE PLAN.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, in coordination with
appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies, shall coordinate the
development and implementation of a comprehensive interagency plan to
ensure that Federal, State, and local government response plans and
programs can respond adequately to the consequences of Federal crimes
of terrorism directed against any stage of the Yucca Mountain Project.
The plan shall include--
(1) necessary preresponse preparations and evacuation plans
for Federal, State, and local governments;
(2) procedures for notifying State and local emergency
response units when nuclear waste is transported through their
local area;
(3) an analysis and a comprehensive set of procedures to
address the impacts of Federal crimes of terrorism that result
in a release of radioactive materials including--
(A) immediate and long-term public health effects;
(B) environmental impacts, broadly defined;
(C) direct socioeconomic impacts, including cleanup
and disposal costs and opportunity costs, to affected
individuals and businesses; and
(D) indirect socioeconomic impacts, including
economic losses resulting from perceptions of risk and
stigma effects; and
(4) a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the economic,
public health, and environmental effects of implementing the
plan, including analysis of the repercussions and costs from a
wide range of types of Federal crimes of terrorism.
SEC. 5. TECHNICAL REVIEW.
The Secretary of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency shall enter into appropriate arrangements with the
National Research Council for technical review of the plans developed
under sections 3 and 4, respectively. Such reviews shall--
(1) address the strengths and shortcomings of the analyses
and preparations set forth in the plans; and
(2) pay special attention to--
(A) the need for comprehensive and reliable
physical testing, including full-scale-to-destruction
and scale model testing, to evaluate weapons
capabilities and limitations;
(B) container vulnerability to high-energy
explosive devices, and the effects on nuclear waste;
and
(C) the appropriateness of existing computer models
for evaluating near-site environmental dispersion of
released radionuclides, resulting health effects, and
cleanup and disposal requirements.
SEC. 6. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY RECOMMENDATION.
The Secretary of Energy shall not submit a license application
under section 114(b) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C.
10134(b)), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission shall not issue any
license for a repository at Yucca Mountain under section 114(d) of the
Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10134(d)), unless--
(1) the interagency plans required under sections 3 and 4
are completed and included in the final environmental impact
statement for Yucca Mountain, and all rules and recommendations
implemented completely;
(2) public hearings have been held for all affected
populations;
(3) the Secretary has certified that all facets of the
Yucca Mountain Project are not vulnerable to Federal crimes of
terrorism; and
(4) the Secretary of Homeland Security has prepared and
transmitted to the Congress a report on the potential liability
costs and damages resulting from a wide range of Federal crimes
of terrorism against the Yucca Mountain Project.
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act--
(1) the term ``Federal crime of terrorism'' has the meaning
given that term in section 2332b(g)(5) of title 18, United
States Code; and
(2) the term ``Yucca Mountain Project'' means all aspects
of the high-level nuclear waste repository currently being
studied at Yucca Mountain. The term includes all Department of
Energy transportation plans, interim storage facilities,
intermodal transfer facilities, repositories, and any other
site where high-level waste will be handled in relation to the
Yucca Mountain Project.
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