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HF 2513

as introduced - 90th Legislature (2017 - 2018) Posted on 03/27/2017 09:56am

KEY: stricken = removed, old language.
underscored = added, new language.

Current Version - as introduced

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A resolution
memorializing Congress to revive the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository
licensing review process.

WHEREAS, nuclear powered electric generating facilities are located in Minnesota at
Monticello and Prairie Island; and

WHEREAS, spent nuclear fuel is currently being stored in dry casks only 600 yards from
the nearest residents on the Prairie Island Indian Reservation, which is the closest community to
nuclear waste storage in the country; and

WHEREAS, continued storage of spent nuclear fuel in dry casks at Prairie Island and
Monticello is not in the best interests of the citizens of Minnesota; and

WHEREAS, the United States Congress enacted the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 and
directed the Department of Energy to establish a program for the safe, permanent disposal of the
nation's commercial spent nuclear fuel and defense-related high-level radioactive waste in a geologic
repository; and

WHEREAS, the President of the United States approved the recommendation of the United
States Secretary of Energy that the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada is fully suitable for use as a
national used fuel repository, and Congress concurred by passing the Yucca Mountain Development
Act of 2002; and

WHEREAS, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act created the Nuclear Waste Fund to pay for the
development of a waste management program financed through fees collected from ratepayers of
utilities that own nuclear powered electric generating facilities; and

WHEREAS, the Nuclear Waste Fund balance exceeds $35 billion, and more than $11 billion
has been expended on the Yucca Mountain project to date; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Energy suspended review of the Yucca Mountain license
application and halted funding for the project in 2010; and

WHEREAS, the United States Court of Appeals in 2012 ordered the fee assessed on ratepayers
of utilities that own nuclear powered electric generating facilities be suspended due to cancellation
of the Yucca Mountain project and the federal government's continued failure to meet its obligation
to dispose of spent nuclear fuel; and

WHEREAS, compelled by the federal judiciary, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
completed the Yucca Mountain safety evaluation report, demonstrating that the facility meets all
Nuclear Regulatory Commission requirements to protect long-term public health and safety,
confirming a longstanding worldwide scientific consensus on the safety of the proposed deep
geological repository; and

WHEREAS, the federal government's failure to begin transporting spent nuclear fuel to a
national repository in 1998 has resulted in more than $6 billion in court-awarded damage settlements
being paid from the taxpayer-funded Judgment Fund to compensate energy companies for storing
spent nuclear fuel on site, with an estimated balance of liabilities of $24.7 billion; NOW,
THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it urges Congress to
work with the President to appropriate sufficient funding to enable the Department of Energy and
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to complete the review of the Yucca Mountain repository
license application, and, if the application is approved, to construct and operate the repository.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Congress should enact legislation to annually appropriate
interest earned on the balance of the Nuclear Waste Fund to fund continuation of the Yucca Mountain
license application and review process, and to maintain the availability of the Nuclear Waste Fund
for the exclusive purpose of establishing a national repository.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the State of Minnesota opposes any
proposal for the federal government to take title to spent nuclear fuel in this state if the effect of
the action would be to assure that spent nuclear fuel would remain in Minnesota.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is directed
to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United States, the
Secretary of the Department of Energy, the President and the Secretary of the United States Senate,
the Speaker and the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, and Minnesota's Senators
and Representatives in Congress.