[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 105 (Wednesday, July 17, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8007-S8010]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 S. 1936--THE NUCLEAR WASTE POLICY ACT

  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I appreciate the opportunity to discuss an 
issue of great importance to the State of Arizona and the Nation. As 
you may know, Arizona is home to the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating 
Station, the Nation's largest nuclear power plant. Palo Verde's three 
1,270 megawatt pressurized water reactors serve more than

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4 million customers in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas. This 
facility is not only effective and efficient for customers in those 
States; it serves as an example for other plants across the country. In 
1987, Palo Verde was selected to receive the Outstanding Engineering 
Achievement Award, the Nation's highest engineering honor from the 
National Society of Professional Engineers and in 1995, received an 
INPO 1 rating--the highest rating for excellence by the Institute of 
Nuclear Power Operations. I am also pleased to announce that just last 
week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its ``Systematic 
Assessment of Licensee Performance,'' or SALP report, for Palo Verde. 
In three categories--operations, maintenance and engineering--Palo 
Verde received a Category 1 rating, reflecting superior safety 
performance. Let me quote the NRC in a July 5 letter to Arizona Public 
Service, Palo Verde's operator: ``It is clear that Arizona Public 
Service has established the programs and processes necessary to achieve 
and sustain superior performance. Management attention is evident at 
all levels.'' I commend Palo Verde for its outstanding performance. 
These are achievements to be proud of.
  Palo Verde also deserves awards for its low impact on the 
environment. Because it uses uranium as fuel, Palo Verde has saved the 
earth 51 million tons of coal; 12 million barrels of oil; and 272 
billion cubic feet of natural gas. By avoiding fossil fuels, Palo Verde 
avoided disseminating 2 million tons of sulfur oxide, also known as 
acid rain, 40 million tons of carbon dioxide, and 700 thousand tons of 
nitrogen oxides. In addition, Palo Verde contributes to the local 
environment in Phoenix by recycling 40,000 gallons of municipal 
effluent per minute.

  All of these benefits do not come without some cost, of course. Palo 
Verde, like nuclear plants all over the world, produces high-level 
radioactive waste, in the form of spent fuel rods, that must be 
disposed of in an environmentally sound manner. Currently, these rods 
are stored on-site, in cooling ponds. This storage, as is the case at 
so many other plants, was designed to be temporary. Palo Verde cannot 
accommodate all the spent fuel that it will produce in its lifetime. 
Palo Verde, and other nuclear plants across the country, relied on the 
commitment by the United States Government to begin taking spent fuel 
by 1998. By that year, 26 U.S. reactors will exhaust existing spent 
fuel storage capacity. Fuel managers at Palo Verde estimate that the 
three reactors will lose the ability to discharge the entirety of their 
cores in 2004.
  For years, we have debated what to do with the spent fuel rods from 
commercial reactors as well as high-level defense waste. In 1982, 
Congress made a commitment to the American people to take the waste. 
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act laid the groundwork to develop storage and 
disposal facilities for commercial and defense waste. Under this 
legislation, the Department of Energy has an obligation to provide 
safe, centralized storage for the Nation's spent fuel. In return, 
electricity consumers would finance this program by paying a few 
additional cents on their monthly electric bills, the so-called 1 mill 
per kilowatt charge. Since 1982, electricity consumers have paid 
billions of dollars into the nuclear waste fund. Including interest, 
their contributions come to over $11 billion. Consumers in the 
southwestern states served by Palo Verde have paid in over $175 
million.
  Unfortunately, significant progress toward long-term storage has not 
been made. Although characterization and viability assessments are 
underway at Yucca Mountain, NV, the proposed site of the permanent 
repository, the Federal Government is not now ready to accept high 
level waste. And absent extraordinary actions by DOE, it will not be 
ready any time soon--certainly not by the 1998 deadline. DOE has 
already conceded that the permanent repository could not possibly be 
ready before 2010. Compounding the problem, DOE has not even begun the 
basic planning required for an interim facility.
  Failing to meet the deadline in 1998 is deplorable but it seems it is 
unavoidable. The consequences for some utilities could be devastating. 
Some could be forced to shut down. If those 23 plants that run out of 
storage space in 3 years were to shut down, America would lose enough 
power for nearly 11 million people--power that doesn't result in air 
pollution.
  Another option for plants would be for these utilities to build 
additional on-site storage. This would cost tens of millions of 
dollars--money that would come from the pocketbooks of electricity 
customers. Those same consumers who have already paid so many billions 
of dollars to the Government for spent fuel storage would be forced to 
pay twice for the same service. Officials at Palo Verde estimate that 
their initial capital costs and licensing for new on-site storage would 
be in the neighborhood of $20 million with annual monitoring 
expenditures of about $10 million.
  To remedy this inequity, along with several other Senators, including 
Senators Craig and Murkowski, I introduced S. 1271, the Nuclear Waste 
Policy Act of 1995. This bill proposes an interim storage facility at 
the Nevada Test Site near Yucca Mountain and would enable the 
Government to meet its obligation to begin accepting spent fuel and 
defense waste in 1998. This bill passed out of the Energy Committee in 
March of this year. Just last week, Senators Craig and Murkowski 
introduced S. 1936, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1996, in an attempt 
to address a number of concerns that had been expressed with respect to 
S. 1271. The new bill was also drafted to broaden the bipartisan 
support for this important legislation. I am pleased to co-sponsor this 
new legislation.

  The bill has been successful in gaining bipartisan support, as 
evidenced by the cloture vote of 65 to 34 on July 16. I believe that 
the changes made are reasonable and will go a long way toward reaching 
agreement with the House bill. Just as important, Senator Bennett 
Johnston, the ranking member on the Energy Committee, has agreed to 
cosponsor S. 1936 and has sent a letter to the White House, urging the 
President to reconsider his previous veto statement. As Senator 
Johnston points out in his July 11 letter to President Clinton:

       Nuclear waste has never been a partisan issue. While the 
     current law was signed by a Republican president, it has its 
     roots in the Carter administration. It was passed by a 
     Democratic House and a Republican Senate and amended by a 
     Democratic House and a Democratic Senate, with broad 
     bipartisan support. It would be a terrible, terrible mistake 
     to make it a partisan issue now.

  Continuing in this bipartisan tradition is S. 1936, which amends the 
Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. Introduced July 9 by Senators Larry 
Craig and Frank Murkowski, it retains the fundamental principles of S. 
1271, which passed Energy Committee in March. S. 1936 would develop an 
integrated management system for used nuclear fuel from commercial 
nuclear power plants and for high-level radioactive materials from 
defense activities, all of which is now stored in 41 States.


                        Central Interim Storage

  Under S. 1936, construction of an interim facility could begin 
December 31, 1998. If the President determines by that date that Yucca 
Mountain is not a suitable site for a permanent repository, an 
alternate interim storage site may be chosen. An alternate storage site 
must be selected by the President by June 30, 2000, and Congress must 
approve construction at that alternate site by December 31, 2000. If 
those milestones are not met, an interim storage facility will be built 
at the Nevada Test Site. This provision is significant because it 
ensures that the construction of an interim storage facility at the 
Yucca Mountain site will not occur before the President and Congress 
have had an ample opportunity to review the technical assessment of the 
suitability of the Yucca Mountain site for a permanent repository and 
to designate an alternative site for interim storage based upon that 
technical information. This provision of S. 1936, in effect, de-links 
permanent and interim storage. This linkage was a criticism of S. 1271 
which would have allowed construction of an interim storage facility on 
October 1, 1998. S. 1936 provides time to determine if Yucca Mountain 
is a viable site for a permanent repository before building an interim 
site in Nevada. If it is not, S. 1936, again, provides the option for 
finding an alternate interim storage site.


            Ratepayer Funding of the Waste Disposal Program

  S. 1936 ensures that funds are available for the program when needed. 
The

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bill continues electricity customers' payments into the Waste Fund at 
the rate of 1 mill per kilowatt-hour, or about $600 million per year, 
until September 30, 2020. After that date, the program will be funded 
by a user fee, which will be capped at 1 mill. The bill also requires 
that all one-time fees owed by utilities for spent fuel generated 
before 1983 be paid by September 30, 2020 and imposes a penalty on 
utilities that fail to pay the one-time fee. In S. 1271, the 1 mill fee 
would have continued indefinitely. One-time fees would have been paid 
when DOE fulfilled its contractual obligation to begin taking waste in 
1998.

  S. 1936 ensures that electricity customers' deposits of about $12 
billion to the Federal Nuclear Waste Fund are made available as needed 
for the nuclear waste management program, and that the monies are spent 
for their intended purpose.
  Both bills assure continued funding for the nuclear waste management 
program. S. 1936 resolves budget issues relating to ``PAY-GO'' and 
assures that funds are made available to the program, and not used to 
offset the budget deficit.


                        Interim Storage Capacity

  Both bills establish a two phase approach for acceptance of waste at 
the central facility to encourage timely completion of the permanent 
repository, without burdening nuclear power plants, many of which are 
rapidly running out of on-site storage capacity. Under S. 1936, spent 
fuel acceptance in Phase I would begin November 30, 1999, and the 
facility capacity would be capped at 15,000 metric tons. Phase I under 
S. 1271 would have begun on the same date, with a 20,000 MTU capacity. 
Under S. 1936, Phase II begins by December 2, 2002. The storage 
capacity would increase to 40,000 MTU. However, a provision in S. 1936 
would increase the capacity cap to 60,000 MTU if DOE fails to complete 
the Yucca Mountain viability assessment by June 30, 1998, or if it 
fails to submit a repository license application by February 1, 2002, 
or it fails to begin repository operation by January 17, 2010. Phase II 
in S. 1271 would have also begun by December 31, 2002, but with a 
100,000 MTU capacity. S. 1936 provides storage capacity through 2019 
and maintains pressure to complete construction of a repository by 
2010.


                             Transportation

  Like S. 1271, S. 1936 designated Caliente, NV, as an intermodal 
transfer point and provides for heavy haul truck transfer to the Nevada 
Test Site. S. 1936 clarifies that transporting spent nuclear fuel will 
be governed by all Federal, State, and local requirements to the same 
extent as anyone engaging in interstate transportation. S. 1936 also 
contains more stringent requirements for promulgating employee safety 
rules, provides greater detail in transportation requirements, and 
provides training for workers in all phases of the integrated waste 
management system and emergency response personnel.


            National Environmental Policy Act and Preemption

  S. 1936 requires that DOE conduct an environmental impact statement 
for licensing both the interim spent fuel storage facility and the 
permanent repository. Environmental reviews are also required for the 
intermodal transfer facility. S. 1936, far from overriding all State 
and local laws, actually expands jurisdiction of all applicable 
Federal, State, and local and tribal laws. The only time Federal law 
would override, or preempt, State or local law is when these are 
patently unreasonable as would be the case if a State passed a law 
declaring illegal the passage of nuclear waste through it. Such laws as 
this, which would be an insuperable obstacle to carrying our S. 1936, 
would be preempted. This is in contrast to S. 1271, which said the 
storage facility would be governed solely by the Nuclear Waste Policy 
Act, Atomic Energy Act, and the Hazardous Material Transportation Act, 
to the exclusion of all laws below the Federal level. S. 1936 takes 
into account an expanded universe of Federal, State, and local and 
tribal laws, while ensuring that the program is not obstructed.


                            Local Relations

  S. 1936 restores financial assistance to Nevada's local governments 
and to tribes, and it provides land transfers to Nye and Lincoln 
Counties, and the city of Caliente. The bill's affected areas see the 
land transfer provision as attractive, since the vast majority of 
Nevada land is government owned. S. 1936 provides equitable treatment 
for Nevada's local governments and tribes.


                             Transportation

  The Federal Government must plan today to ensure its ability to 
transport spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants to a 
central storage facility beginning in 1999. The Energy Department is 
responsible for transporting spent nuclear fuel to a central storage 
facility and repository. S. 1936 instructs DOE to use private 
contractors to the fullest extent possible in each aspect of the 
transportation network. Spent fuel must be transported from nuclear 
power plants to an interim storage facility in containers certified by 
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. DOE selects transportation routes 
for spent fuel shipments to Nevada, and the agency must notify States 
along the transportation routes in advance of spent fuel shipments. As 
mentioned, the containers would be transferred at an intermodal 
facility at Caliente, NV and shipped by heavy haul truck over the final 
120 miles to the central storage facility.
  The bill also provides technical assistance to States, local 
governments and Indian tribes for training in procedures required for 
routine transportation and in emergency response. The transportation 
provisions in S. 1936 are consistent with preemption authority found in 
the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act.


                         Amounts to be Shipped

  Radioactive materials currently account for about 3 percent of the 
100 million packages of hazardous materials shipped each year in the 
United States. Of those 3 million radioactive packages, fewer than 100 
contain high-level radioactive waste. The number of spent fuel 
shipments will increase to about 300 to 500 per year by the turn of the 
century, when the DOE is expected to begin accepting high-level 
radioactive waste at a central storage facility. Even then, high-level 
radioactive waste will comprise a small percentage of all hazardous 
material shipments.
  During the past 30 years, the commercial nuclear industry has built a 
solid safety record during more than 2,400 shipments of spent fuel over 
U.S. highways and railroads. During this time, no fatalities, injuries 
or environmental damage have been caused by the radioactive nature of 
the cargo. Spent nuclear fuel is placed in dry, rugged containers for 
shipment. These specially designed containers--certified by the NRC--
use heavy steel-walled technology to safely confine radioactive 
materials.
  Because of the strict controls by DOE, NRC and other State and 
Federal agencies, utilities and other U.S. companies have a long 
history of safe spent fuel transportation. Spent fuel has been shipped 
from temporary storage facilities at West Valley, NY and Morris, IL, 
back to utilities; from the Three Mile Island plant to the Idaho 
National Engineering Laboratory; and from the Hope Creek nuclear power 
plant in New Jersey to a General Electric facility in California.


                  Designation of Transportation Routes

  Spent fuel can be shipped only along specified rail and highway 
routes. The routes will be selected by the DOE, but States participate 
in the designation process. Eleven States have registered preferred 
routes for transportation of high-level radioactive materials. S. 1936 
requires DOE to adhere to NRC regulations requiring advance 
notification of State and local governments prior to transportation of 
spent fuel.

  For those shipments that will be transported by truck, most of the 
designated routes travel along interstate highways and bypasses--not 
through major cities and towns. However, States may propose 
alternatives to the interstate highway system. Potentially affected 
States must be consulted in the designation of alternative routes. 
Shippers must file a written route plan with the NRC, including the 
origin-destination of the shipment, routes, planned stops, estimated 
arrival times at each stop, and emergency telephone numbers in each 
State the shipment will enter.


        Protection of Public Health and Safety During Shipments

  Federal regulations for transporting radioactive material ensure that 
the

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public and the environment are protected from dangerous releases of 
radioactivity. Three Federal agencies each play a key role in the safe 
transfer of radioactive materials from nuclear power plants to a 
central storage facility. The DOE is responsible for accepting, 
transporting, storing and disposing of spent fuel from nuclear power 
plants. The DOT regulates highway routing, packaging, labeling, 
shipping papers, personnel training, loading and unloading, handling 
and storage, as well as transportation vehicle requirements. The NRC 
regulates container design and manufacturing to ensure that containers 
maintain their integrity under routine transportation conditions and 
during severe accidents. S. 1936 requires that containers for nuclear 
fuel transport be licensed by the NRC. The agency also examines 
shipping routes to ensure the security of spent fuel shipments.
  According to NRC regulations, the radiation level of containers 
during shipment cannot exceed 10 millirem per hour at a distance of 6 
feet from the truck. At this level, a person who spends 30 minutes 
standing 6 feet away from the vehicle carrying radioactive materials 
would receive 5 millirem of radiation. By comparison, the average 
person receives about 300 millirem each year from natural background 
radiation.


                               Accidents

  Between 1971 and 1989, seven accidents occurred involving 
transportation of spent nuclear fuel. None caused any release of 
radioactivity. The most severe of these accidents occurred in 1971 in 
Tennessee. A tractor-trailer carrying a 25-ton spent fuel shipping 
container swerved to avoid a head-on collision, went out of control and 
overturned. The trailer, with the container still attached, broke free 
of the tractor and skidded into a rain-filled ditch. The container 
suffered minor damage, but did not release any radioactive material.


                        Local Response-Training

  The Federal Government provides training and other assistance to the 
States so they may adequately respond in the event of an accident. 
Under existing law and S. 1936, DOE provides funding from the Federal 
Nuclear Waste Fund to train State and local officials and tribal 
emergency rescue workers and to develop emergency response and 
preparedness plans. S. 1936 also required the Secretary of 
Transportation to establish training standards applicable to workers 
directly involved in the removal, transportation, interim storage, and 
disposal of high-level radioactive waste.
  The DOE operates a Radiological Assistance Program, with eight 
regional offices staffed with experts available for immediate 
assistance. If necessary, police will summon those experts to handle 
the transportation package and remove any radioactive material that may 
have been released.


                               Terrorism

  Terrorism has been given considerable attention in the planning, 
procedures and regulation of spent fuel transportation. It is highly 
unlikely that a terrorist would have the opportunity, the equipment, or 
the required expertise to sufficiently damage a spent nuclear fuel 
container to cause a radiation release.
  Points of origin, schedule, route, and mode of transportation are 
known only by a core group of Federal and State government officials. 
Special devices on vehicles, sophisticated satellite tracking, and 
armed security through populated areas will be employed to deter 
terrorist threats.
  Tests by Sandia National Laboratories evaluated the possibility of a 
terrorist attack. For security reasons, much of this information is 
classified; however, we do know that, for testing purposes, a container 
was subjected to a device 30 times more powerful than a typical anti-
tank weapon. This test was conducted in a carefully controlled 
environment and resulted in a one-fourth of an inch in diameter hole 
through the primary containment wall. The NRC estimates that even a 
device this powerful would have caused a release of less than 10 grams 
of spent fuel.


                       The 100 Millirem Standard

  S. 1936 establishes a 100 millirem standard for release of 
radioactivity from the repository as a maximum annual dose to an 
average member of the general population in the vicinity of Yucca 
Mountain. This standard is consistent with current national and 
international standards designed to protect the public health and 
safety and the environment. S. 1936 also would allow the NRC to 
establish another standard if it finds that the 100 millirem level 
would pose an unreasonable risk to the health and safety of Nevadans.


                               Conclusion

  In sum, I believe that S. 1936 is an effective short-term solution to 
our nuclear waste disposal, for both commercial and defense waste. A 
central interim storage facility is both environmentally and 
economically sound. To me, the choice seems clear. Why leave nuclear 
waste scattered throughout the country in various sites when it can be 
safely transferred and stored in one central site? A single storage 
site is clearly the pro-environmental option. Interim storage at a 
central Federal site enhances safety and efficiency in the management 
of spent fuel. In addition to the environmental benefits, central 
storage is significantly more cost-effective for electricity customers. 
Storing used fuel at a central interim storage facility would save 
consumers $4.3 billion if the facility is operating by 2000 and a 
repository begins accepting spent fuel in 2010.
  America's 110 nuclear power plants are this Nation's second largest 
source of electricity, constituting about 20 percent of our electric 
power. Nuclear energy supplies over 40 percent of all the new 
electricity required by the American people since 1973. Our nuclear 
power plants will also make the largest contribution of any technology 
toward meeting the Administration's year 2000 goals for reducing 
greenhouse gas emissions.
  Whether we build new nuclear power plants in the future or not, we 
must deal responsibly with the nuclear fuel produced by our currently 
operating plants. We must also deal with the defense waste that this 
Nation has produced. S. 1936 is good policy and represents a safe, 
responsible solution that enjoys strong bipartisan support.

                          ____________________