1.This Act may be cited as the
Nuclear Fuel Storage Improvement Act
of 2011
.
2.In this Act:
(1)The
term Commission means the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
(2)The
term Secretary means the Secretary of Energy.
3.Incentives for
siting of temporary used fuel storage facilities
(a)In
this section:
(1)The
term agreement means a temporary used fuel storage facility
agreement entered into under subsection (e).
(2)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.
(3)The term Nuclear Waste Fund means the Nuclear
Waste Fund established under section 302 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of
1982 (42 U.S.C. 10222).
(4)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.
(5)The term used fuel means nuclear fuel that has
been withdrawn from a nuclear reactor following irradiation, the constituent
elements of which have not been separated by reprocessing.
(b)The
Secretary shall offer to enter into temporary used fuel storage facility
agreements in accordance with this section.
(c)Notice from
units of local government to SecretaryNot later than January 1,
2013, representatives of a unit of local government, with the written approval
of the Governor of the State in which the jurisdiction of the local government
is located, 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 unit of local government.
(d)
(1)The Secretary shall make payments of $1,000,000 each year
to not more than 3 units of local government that have submitted notices under
subsection (c).
(2)If more than 3 notices are received under subsection (c),
the Secretary shall make payments to the first 3 units of local government,
based on the order in which the notices are received.
(3)The
payments shall be made annually for a 3-year period, on the anniversary date of
the filing of the notice under subsection (c).
(e)
(1)On the docketing of an application for a license for a
temporary used fuel storage facility, in accordance with part 72 of title 10,
Code of Federal Regulations, at a site within the jurisdiction of a 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.
(2)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.
(3)An
agreement may be—
(A)amended only with
the mutual consent of the parties to the agreement; and
(B)terminated only
in accordance with paragraph (4).
(4)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.
(5)Not more than 2 agreements may be in effect at any
time.
(6)
(A)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—
(i)payments
of—
(I)on the date of
entering into the agreement under this subsection, $6,000,000;
(II)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
(III)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—
- (aa)$15,000,000 for
each year; or
- (bb)$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
(ii)a
payment of $20,000,000 on closure of the facility.
(B)Timing of
annual paymentsThe Secretary shall make annual payments under
subparagraph (A)(i)—
(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
(ii)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).
(C)Subject to subparagraph (A)(ii), the authority to make
payments under this paragraph terminates on the date of closure of the
facility.
(f)Funding
for compensation and payments provided for, and made under, this section shall
be made available from amounts available in the Nuclear Waste Fund.
4.Acceptance,
storage, and settlement of claims
(a)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 3(e).
(b)Settlement and
acceptance of used fuel
(1)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.
(2)A settlement agreement described in paragraph
(1)—
(A)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
(B)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
subsection (a).
(c)Priority for
acceptance for closed facilities
(1)If a request for fuel acceptance is made under this
section 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.
(2)Spent
nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste generated by a facility in
existence as of the date of enactment of this Act shall be offered a schedule
in accordance with the priority established pursuant to Article IV.b.5 of the
contract entitled Contract for Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and/or
High-Level Radioactive Waste
, as specified in section 961.11 of title
10, Code of Federal Regulations.
(d)Transportation
of used fuel
(1)The Secretary shall provide for the transportation of
used fuel accepted by the Secretary under this section.
(2)
(A)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 section.
(B)The
Secretary shall—
(i)use
transportation and storage casks that are approved by the Commission in use at
facilities designated by contract holders; and
(ii)compensate the
owner and operator of each facility for the use of the casks.