HF 2734

as introduced - 87th Legislature (2011 - 2012) Posted on 03/07/2012 02:18pm

A resolution
memorializing the President and Congress to enact legislation and take other federal
government action related to interim storage of used nuclear fuel.

WHEREAS, nuclear utility ratepayers in Minnesota and throughout the United States have
contributed more than $30,000,000,000 in fees and interest, as mandated under the Nuclear Waste
Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), for the purpose of removing used nuclear fuel from commercial
reactor sites and defense-related high-level radioactive waste from defense sites; and

WHEREAS, the federal government failed to satisfy the NWPA's statutory requirement
to begin accepting used nuclear fuel in 1998 and has failed to meet the terms of its contracts
with United States nuclear plant operators; and

WHEREAS, the 104 operating United States commercial reactors have accumulated some
77,000 metric tons of used nuclear fuel; and

WHEREAS, the current administration has terminated and Congress has ceased funding of
all activities related to the license review or further development of a permanent central disposal
repository at the Yucca Mountain Project in Nevada, which has been the federal government's
only intended destination for used commercial fuel and defense-related waste; and

WHEREAS, there are lawsuits attempting to compel the federal government to meet its
obligations under the NWPA; and

WHEREAS, the current administration in January, 2010, appointed a Blue Ribbon
Commission on America's Nuclear Future comprised of distinguished American scientists and
nuclear policymakers to review various alternative options and make recommendations for future
safe management of United States commercial used nuclear fuel and defense waste; and

WHEREAS, the Blue Ribbon Commission has recommended an integrated nuclear fuel
management program incorporating: (1) development of one or more Nuclear Regulatory
Commission-licensed (NRC) private or government-owned centralized interim storage facilities
in communities in states that would willingly host such facilities; (2) continued public
and private sector research, development, and deployment of used fuel and nuclear waste
recycling technologies to close the nuclear fuel cycle in a safe, environmentally responsible,
proliferation-resistant, and economically viable process; and (3) assured access by the nuclear
waste program to revenues generated by consumers' continued payments and to existing balances
in the Nuclear Waste Fund; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the State of Minnesota that the legislature of the state
of Minnesota calls on the President Obama Administration and the United States Congress to:

(1) adopt legislation enabling the construction of one or more centralized interim fuel
storage facilities through directives to the United States Department of Energy and through
incentives to interested communities funded through access to the accumulated Nuclear Waste
Fund;

(2) recognize there are willing host communities and states that are ready to voluntarily
accept used fuel and defense waste shipments;

(3) assure access by the Nuclear Waste Management program to the revenues generated by
consumers' continuing fee payments and to the significant balance in the Nuclear Waste Fund; and

(4) enable one or more NRC-licensed private interim storage facilities to meet this public
policy need of the United States.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate is directed to prepare a
copy of this resolution, to be authenticated by his signature and that of the Chair of the Senate
Rules and Administration Committee, and transmit it to the President of the United States, the
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the United States
Senate, and the Secretary of the United States Department of Energy.