[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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