II
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3215
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 26, 2008
Mr. Domenici (for himself, Mr. Sessions, Ms. Landrieu, and Ms. Murkowski) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Energy to enter into cooperative agreements with private entities to share the cost of obtaining construction and operating licenses for certain types of recycling facilities, and for other purposes.
Short title
This Act may be cited as
the Strengthening Management of
Advanced Recycling Technologies Act of 2008
or the
SMART Act of
2008
.
Definitions
In this Act:
Commission
The term Commission means the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Private entity
The term private entity means—
a person, municipality, or electric utility (as those terms are defined in section 3 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796)); and
any legal successor, representative, agent, or agency of any person or entity described in subsection (a).
Secretary
The term Secretary means the Secretary of Energy.
Cost-share commercial nuclear licensing program
In general
The Secretary shall offer to enter into 1 or more cooperative agreements with private entities—
to develop the required licensing documentation and technical criteria for new recycling plants, as determined by the Commission by rule;
to conduct design and engineering work on not less than 1, but not more than 2, recycling technology designs—
that is sufficient to develop the designs to a state of design completion; and
to allow for the development of firm cost estimates with respect to the development of the recycling technologies; and
to share the cost of obtaining construction and operating licenses for not more than 2 used fuel recycling facilities with a maximum individual capacity of 2,500 metric tons per year and a minimum capacity of not less than 500 metric tons.
Competitive basis
Assistance under this section shall be awarded on a competitive basis.
Matching funds
As a condition of awarding assistance under this section, the Secretary shall require that Federal funds provided under this section be matched with equal matching funds from a non-Federal source.
Prerequisites
Assistance under this section shall be awarded only to private entities that propose to develop recycling facilities that—
do not separate pure plutonium;
reduce the burden on geological repositories for ultimate waste disposal;
promote extraction of additional useful energy from used fuel from recycling or reuse;
use only fuel that is produced from reactors that are located in the United States; and
produce fuel for civilian nuclear power reactors that are located in the United States.
Long-term contracts for recycling commercial used nuclear fuel
In general
Subject to subsection (b), the Secretary shall offer to enter into long-term contracts with private entities to recycle commercial used nuclear fuel.
Prerequisites
The Secretary may enter into a long-term contract under subsection (a) only if the recycling—
does not separate pure plutonium;
reduces the burden on geological repositories for ultimate waste disposal;
promotes extraction of additional useful energy from used fuel from recycling or reuse;
uses only fuel that is produced from reactors that are located in the United States; and
produces fuel for civilian nuclear power reactors that are located in the United States.
Incentives for siting of temporary used fuel storage facilities
Definitions
In this section:
Agreement
The term agreement means a temporary used fuel storage facility agreement entered into under subsection (e).
First used fuel receipt
The term first used fuel receipt means the receipt of used fuel by a temporary used fuel storage facility at a site within the jurisdiction of a unit of local government that is a party to an agreement.
Unit of local government
The term unit of local government means any borough, city, county, parish, town, township, village, or other general purpose political subdivision of a State, or association of 2 or more political subdivisions of a State.
Used fuel
The term used fuel means—
high-level radioactive waste produced by facilities with which the Secretary has entered into a long-term contract under section 4; or
used nuclear fuel.
Authorization
The Secretary shall offer to enter into temporary used fuel storage facility agreements in accordance with this section.
Notice from units of local government to Secretary
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, representatives of a unit of local government may submit to the Secretary written notice that the unit of local government is willing to have a privately owned and operated temporary used fuel storage facility located at an identified site within the jurisdiction of the units of local government.
Preliminary compensation
In general
The Secretary shall make payments of $1,000,000 each year to not more than 11 units of local government that have submitted notices under subsection (c).
Multiple notices
If more than 11 notices are received under subsection (c), the Secretary shall make payments to the first 11 units of local government, based on the order in which the notices are received.
Timing
The payments shall be made annually for a 3-year period, on the anniversary date of the filing of the notice under subsection (c).
Agreement
In general
On the docketing of an application for a license for a temporary used fuel storage facility at a site within the jurisdiction of an unit of local government by the Commission, the Secretary shall offer to enter into a temporary used fuel storage facility economic impact agreement with the unit of local government.
Terms and conditions
An agreement between the Secretary and a unit of local government under this subsection shall contain such terms and conditions (including such financial and institutional arrangements) as the Secretary and the unit of local government determine to be reasonable and appropriate.
Amendment
An agreement may be—
amended only with the mutual consent of the parties to the agreement; and
terminated only in accordance with paragraph (4).
Termination
The Secretary shall terminate an agreement if the Secretary determines that any major element of the temporary used fuel storage facility required under the agreement will not be completed.
Number of agreements
Not more than 2 agreements may be in effect at any time.
Payment schedule
In general
If the Secretary enters into an agreement under this subsection, the Secretary shall make to the unit of local government and the State in which the unit of local government is located—
payments of—
on the date of entering into the agreement under this subsection, $6,000,000;
during the period beginning on the date of entering into an agreement and ending on the date of first used fuel receipt or denial of the license application for a temporary used fuel storage facility by the Commission, whichever is later, $10,000,000 for each year; and
during the period beginning on the date of first used fuel receipt and ending on the date of closure of the facility, a total of the higher of—
$15,000,000 for each year; or
$15,000 per metric ton of used fuel received at the facility for each year, up to a maximum of $25,000,000 for each year; and
a payment of $20,000,000 on closure of the facility.
Timing of annual payments
The Secretary shall make annual payments under subparagraph (A)(i)—
in the case of annual payments described in subparagraph (A)(i)(II), on the anniversary of the date of the docketing of the license application by the Commission; and
in the case of annual payments described in subparagraph (A)(i)(III), on the date of the first used fuel receipt and thereafter on the anniversary date of the first used fuel receipt, in lieu of annual payments described in subparagraph (A)(i)(II).
Termination of authority
Subject to subparagraph (A)(ii), the authority to make payments under this paragraph terminates on the date of closure of the facility.
Acceptance, storage, and settlement of claims
In general
The Secretary shall offer to enter into a long-term contract for the storage of used fuel from civilian nuclear power plants with a private entity that owns or operates an independent used fuel storage facility licensed by the Commission that is located within the jurisdiction of a unit of local government to which payments are made pursuant to section 5(e).
Settlement and acceptance of used fuel
In general
At the request of a party to a contract under section 302(a) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10222(a)), the Secretary may enter into an agreement for the settlement of all claims against the Secretary under a contract for failure to dispose of high-level radioactive waste or used nuclear fuel not later than January 31, 1998.
Terms and conditions
A settlement agreement described in paragraph (1)—
shall contain such terms and conditions (including such financial and institutional arrangements) as the Secretary and the party to the contract determine to be reasonable and appropriate; and
may include the acceptance of used fuel from the party to the contract for storage at a facility with respect to which the Secretary has a long-term contract under paragraph (1).
Effect of acceptance
Acceptance of used fuel by the Secretary under subsection (b) shall constitute transfer of title to the Secretary.
Priority for acceptance for closed facilities
If a request for fuel acceptance is made under paragraph (2) by a facility that has produced used nuclear fuel and that is shut down permanently and the facility has been decommissioned, the Secretary shall provide priority for the acceptance of the fuel produced by the facility.
Transportation of used fuel
In general
The Secretary shall provide for the transportation of used fuel accepted by the Secretary under this subsection.
Systems and components
In general
The Secretary shall procure all systems and components necessary to transport used fuel from facilities designated by contract holders to 1 or more storage facilities under this subsection.
Casks
The Secretary shall—
use transportation and storage casks that are approved by the Commission in use at facilities designated by contract holders; and
compensate the owner and operator of each facility for the use of the casks.
Funding
Contracts and fees
Section 302(a) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10222(a)) is amended—
in paragraph (2)—
by striking
(2) For
and inserting the following:
Fee for electricity from civilian nuclear power reactors
In general
For
; and
by adding at the end the following:
Adjusted fee
For electricity generated by a civilian nuclear power reactor and sold on or after the date that is 90 days after the date of enactment of the Strengthening Management of Advanced Recycling Technologies Act of 2008, the fee under paragraph (1) shall be 1 mill per kilowatt-hour.
; and
in paragraph (4)—
by designating the first through fifth sentences as subparagraphs (A) through (E), respectively; and
by striking subparagraph (E) (as so designated) and inserting the following:
Effective date of adjusted fee
The adjusted fee proposed by the Secretary shall be effective on the date a law is enacted approving the proposed adjustment of the Secretary.
.
Establishment of nuclear waste funds
Section 302 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10222) is amended by striking subsection (c) and inserting the following:
Establishment of nuclear waste funds
Nuclear Waste Revolving Fund
Establishment
There
is established in the Treasury of the United States a separate revolving fund,
to be known as the Nuclear Waste Revolving Fund (referred to in this section as
the Waste Fund
).
Contents
Subject to paragraph (2)(B)(i), the Waste Fund shall consist of—
all interest realized by the Secretary under subsection (e), which have been and shall be deposited in the Waste Fund immediately on receipt;
any appropriation made to the Waste Fund; and
any unexpended balances available on January 7, 1983, for functions or activities necessary or incident to the disposal of civilian high level radioactive waste or civilian used nuclear fuel, which shall be transferred to the Waste Fund on the date of enactment of this subparagraph.
Nuclear Waste Legacy Fund
Establishment
There
is established in the Treasury of the United States a separate fund, to be
known as the Nuclear Waste Legacy Fund (referred to in this section as the
Legacy Fund
).
Contents
The Legacy Fund shall consist of—
the amount of the corpus minus $1 billion which shall be transferred from the Waste Fund on the date of enactment of this subparagraph;
fees paid under subsections (a) and (b); and
any appropriations made to the Legacy Fund.
.
Authorized uses of nuclear waste funds
Section 302(d) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 10222(d)) is amended in the first sentence—
in the matter
preceding paragraph (1), by inserting management of used nuclear fuel
or
after only for purposes of
;
in paragraph (5),
by striking and
after the semicolon at the end;
in paragraph (6),
by striking and 219.
and inserting 141, and 219 and
section 5 of the Strengthening Management of
Advanced Recycling Technologies Act of 2008; and
;
and
by inserting after paragraph (6) the following:
any costs associated with storage and recycling of used nuclear fuel incurred pursuant to sections 3, 4, and 5 of the Strengthening Management of Advanced Recycling Technologies Act of 2008.
.
Administration of funds
Section 302(e) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10222(e)) is amended—
by redesignating paragraphs (4) through (6) as paragraphs (6) through (8), respectively; and
by striking
(e) Administration of
waste fund
and all that follows through the end of
paragraph (3) and inserting the following:
Administration of funds
In general
The Secretary of the Treasury shall maintain the Waste
Fund and the Legacy Fund (referred to in this subsection as the
Funds
).
Annual reports
After consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary shall report annually to Congress on the financial condition and operations of the Funds during the preceding fiscal year.
Budget
Submission
The Secretary shall submit the budget of the Funds to the Office of Management and Budget triennially along with the budget of the Department of Energy submitted in accordance with chapter 11 of title 31, United States Code.
Administration
The budget of the Funds shall—
contain estimates made by the Secretary of expenditures from the Funds, and other relevant financial matters, for the succeeding 3 fiscal years; and
be included in the budget for the United States Government.
Expenditures
Waste Fund
In general
Subject to subsection (d) and any limitations in appropriations Acts, the Secretary may make expenditures from the Waste Fund without further appropriation and without fiscal year limitation to carry out this Act.
Certain payments
Notwithstanding clause (i), the Secretary shall make expenditures from the Waste Fund to make payments under contracts and agreements entered into by the Secretary under sections 4(a), 5(e), and 5(f) of the Strengthening Management of Advanced Recycling Technologies Act of 2008 without further appropriation and without fiscal year limitation.
Legacy Fund
The Secretary may make expenditures from the Legacy Fund, subject to appropriations, to remain available until expended.
Investments
If the Secretary determines that either of the Funds contains at any time amounts in excess of current needs, the Secretary may request the Secretary of the Treasury to invest such amounts, or any portion of such amounts as the Secretary determines to be appropriate, in obligations of the United States—
having maturities determined by the Secretary of the Treasury to be appropriate to the needs of the Fund; and
bearing interest at rates determined to be appropriate by the Secretary of the Treasury, taking into consideration the current average market yield on outstanding marketable obligations of the United States with remaining periods to maturity comparable to the maturities of those investments, except that the interest rate on the investments shall not exceed the average interest rate applicable to existing borrowing.
.
Conforming amendments
Section 6 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10105) is repealed.
Section 302 of
the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10222) is amended by striking
the section heading and inserting the following: Nuclear Waste
Funds
.
Waste confidence
For purposes of a determination by the Commission on whether to grant, amend, or renew any license under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) and this Act, the obligation of the Secretary to develop a repository in accordance with the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.) shall provide sufficient and independent grounds for any further findings by the Commission of reasonable assurances that used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste would be disposed of safely and in a timely manner.