[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1924 Introduced in House (IH)]

  1st Session
                                H. R. 1924

   To designate a site for the interim storage of spent nuclear fuel.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 22, 1995

 Mrs. Vucanovich (for herself and Mr. Ensign) introduced the following 
         bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

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                                 A BILL


 
   To designate a site for the interim storage of spent nuclear fuel.
    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 ``Interim Waste Act''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) electric utilities are running out of space for the 
        storage of spent nuclear fuel at commercial reactors;
            (2) pursuant to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 and 
        the contracts executed thereunder, the Secretary has a clear 
        and unconditional obligation to accept spent nuclear fuel and 
        high-level radioactive waste beginning not later than January 
        31, 1998, which obligation is continued under this Act;
            (3) a repository for the permanent storage of spent nuclear 
        fuel will not be licensed until the early part of the next 
        century at the very earliest;
            (4) for reasons of both safety and economics, we must 
        consolidate the current spent nuclear fuel storage sites at 1 
        or 2 interim sites;
            (5) several criteria should be met for an interim spent 
        nuclear fuel storage facility: spent nuclear fuel should 
        already be at the site, there should be an adequate land area, 
        the Federal Government should already own the land, there 
        should be a transportation infrastructure already in place, 
        there should be a security infrastructure already in place, a 
        skilled workforce familiar with handling nuclear materials 
        should be available, a nuclear safety/worker protection 
        infrastructure should be in place, and the locations should be 
        in general proximity to the Nation's nuclear reactors, that is, 
        one for the East and one for the West;
            (6) the new economic activity associated with spent fuel 
        management may address concurrent job losses; and
            (7) the Hanford Nuclear site and the Savannah River Nuclear 
        site meet all the criteria in paragraph (5).

SEC. 3. OBLIGATIONS OF THE SECRETARY OF ENERGY.

    The Secretary of Energy shall accept spent nuclear fuel and high-
level radioactive waste beginning not later than January 31, 1998.

SEC. 4. INTERIM STORAGE.

    (a) Authorization.--The Secretary shall design, construct, and 
operate facilities for the interim storage of spent nuclear fuel. The 
interim storage facilities shall be licensed by the Commission and 
shall commence operation by January 31, 1998.
    (b) Location.--The interim storage facilities shall be located at 
the Savannah River Nuclear site and the Hanford Nuclear site.
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