1.1 	A resolution
1.2 	memorializing the President and Congress to enact legislation and take other federal 
1.3 	government action related to interim storage of used nuclear fuel.
1.4 	WHEREAS, nuclear utility ratepayers in Minnesota and throughout the United States have 
1.5 	contributed more than $30,000,000,000 in fees and interest, as mandated under the Nuclear Waste 
1.6 	Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), for the purpose of removing used nuclear fuel from commercial 
1.7 	reactor sites; and 
1.8 	WHEREAS, the federal government failed to satisfy the NWPA's statutory requirement 
1.9 	to begin accepting used nuclear fuel in 1998 and has failed to meet the terms of its contracts 
1.10 	with United States nuclear plant operators; and 
1.11 	WHEREAS, the 104 operating United States commercial reactors have accumulated some 
1.12 	77,000 metric tons of used nuclear fuel; and 
1.13 	WHEREAS, the current administration has terminated and Congress has ceased funding of 
1.14 	all activities related to the license review or further development of a permanent central disposal 
1.15 	repository at the Yucca Mountain Project in Nevada, which has been the federal government's 
1.16 	only intended destination for used commercial fuel; and 
1.17 	WHEREAS, there are lawsuits attempting to compel the federal government to meet its 
1.18 	obligations under the NWPA; and 
1.19 	WHEREAS, the current administration in January, 2010, appointed a Blue Ribbon 
1.20 	Commission on America's Nuclear Future comprised of distinguished American scientists and 
1.21 	nuclear policymakers to review various alternative options and make recommendations for future 
1.22 	safe management of United States commercial used nuclear fuel; and 
2.1 	WHEREAS, the Blue Ribbon Commission has recommended an integrated nuclear fuel 
2.2 	management program incorporating: (1) development of one or more Nuclear Regulatory 
2.3 	Commission-licensed (NRC) private or government-owned centralized interim storage facilities 
2.4 	in communities in states that would willingly host such facilities; (2) continued public 
2.5 	and private sector research, development, and deployment of used fuel and nuclear waste 
2.6 	recycling technologies to close the nuclear fuel cycle in a safe, environmentally responsible, 
2.7 	proliferation-resistant, and economically viable process; and (3) assured access by the nuclear 
2.8 	waste program to revenues generated by consumers' continued payments and to existing balances 
2.9 	in the Nuclear Waste Fund; NOW, THEREFORE,
2.10 	BE IT RESOLVED by the legislature of the State of Minnesota that it calls on the President 
2.11 	Obama Administration and the United States Congress to: 
2.12 	(1) adopt legislation enabling the construction of one or more centralized interim fuel 
2.13 	storage facilities through directives to the United States Department of Energy and through 
2.14 	incentives to interested communities funded through access to the accumulated Nuclear Waste 
2.15 	Fund;
2.16 	(2) recognize there are willing host communities and states that are ready to voluntarily 
2.17 	accept used fuel;
2.18 	(3) assure access by the Nuclear Waste Management program to the revenues generated by 
2.19 	consumers' continuing fee payments and to the significant balance in the Nuclear Waste Fund; and 
2.20 	(4) enable one or more NRC-licensed private interim storage facilities to meet this public 
2.21 	policy need of the United States.
2.22 	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of Minnesota is directed to 
2.23 	prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United States, the 
2.24 	Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the United States 
2.25 	Senate, and the Secretary of the United States Department of Energy.