HF 775

as introduced - 83rd Legislature (2003 - 2004) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to energy; amending the definition of a 
  1.3             radioactive waste management facility; specifying the 
  1.4             applicability of the renewable development fund; 
  1.5             authorizing sufficient dry cask storage capacity to 
  1.6             allow the nuclear reactors at the Prairie Island 
  1.7             nuclear generation facility to operate until the end 
  1.8             of their current licenses; requiring a public utility 
  1.9             that owns a nuclear generation facility to seek 
  1.10            commission approval for additional storage capacity 
  1.11            for spent nuclear fuel; amending Minnesota Statutes 
  1.12            2002, sections 116C.71, subdivision 7; 116C.779; 
  1.13            216B.1645, subdivision 2; proposing coding for new law 
  1.14            in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 116C. 
  1.15  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.16     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 116C.71, 
  1.17  subdivision 7, is amended to read: 
  1.18     Subd. 7.  [RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITY.] 
  1.19  "Radioactive waste management facility" means a geographic site, 
  1.20  including buildings, structures, and equipment in or upon which 
  1.21  radioactive waste is retrievably or irretrievably disposed by 
  1.22  burial in soil or permanently stored.  An independent spent fuel 
  1.23  storage installation located on the site of a Minnesota nuclear 
  1.24  generation facility for dry cask storage of spent nuclear fuel 
  1.25  generated solely by that facility is not a radioactive waste 
  1.26  management facility. 
  1.27     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 116C.779, is 
  1.28  amended to read: 
  1.29     116C.779 [FUNDING FOR RENEWABLE DEVELOPMENT.] 
  1.30     Subdivision 1.  [APPLICABILITY.] This section applies only 
  2.1   to the first 12 casks filled and placed at the Prairie Island 
  2.2   independent spent fuel storage installation. 
  2.3      Subd. 2.  [RENEWABLE DEVELOPMENT FUND.] (a) The public 
  2.4   utility that operates owns the Prairie Island nuclear generating 
  2.5   plant must transfer to a renewable development account $500,000 
  2.6   each year for each dry cask containing spent fuel that is 
  2.7   located at the independent spent fuel storage installation at 
  2.8   Prairie Island after January 1, 1999.  The fund transfer must be 
  2.9   made if waste is stored in a cask for any part of a year in 
  2.10  which the plant is in operation.  Funds in the account may be 
  2.11  expended only for development of renewable energy sources.  
  2.12  Preference must be given to development of renewable energy 
  2.13  source projects located within the state. 
  2.14     (b) Expenditures from the account may only be made after 
  2.15  approval by order of the public utilities commission upon a 
  2.16  petition by the public utility. 
  2.17     Sec. 3.  [116C.83] [AUTHORIZATION FOR ADDITIONAL DRY CASK 
  2.18  STORAGE.] 
  2.19     (a) Subject to the cask storage limits of the federal 
  2.20  license for the independent spent fuel storage installation at 
  2.21  Prairie Island, the public utility that owns the Prairie Island 
  2.22  nuclear generation plant has authorization for sufficient dry 
  2.23  cask storage capacity at that installation to allow:  
  2.24     (1) the unit 1 reactor at Prairie Island to operate until 
  2.25  the end of its current license in 2013; and 
  2.26     (2) the unit 2 reactor at Prairie Island to operate until 
  2.27  the end of its current license in 2014. 
  2.28     (b) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary: 
  2.29     (1) except as provided in paragraph (a), authorization of 
  2.30  any future nuclear storage facility or dry casks at either 
  2.31  nuclear generation facility in this state is limited to approval 
  2.32  by the public utilities commission pursuant to section 216B.243 
  2.33  and the commission's certificate of need rules; 
  2.34     (2) in any proceeding pursuant to clause (1), the 
  2.35  commission may make a decision that could result in a shut down 
  2.36  of a nuclear generation facility; and 
  3.1      (3) the storage of spent nuclear fuel in the pool and in 
  3.2   dry casks at the Prairie Island nuclear generating plant must be 
  3.3   managed to facilitate the shipment of waste out of state to a 
  3.4   permanent or interim storage facility as soon as feasible in a 
  3.5   manner that allows the continued operation of the plant 
  3.6   consistent with sections 116C.71 to 116C.83 and 216B.1645, 
  3.7   subdivision 2. 
  3.8      Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 216B.1645, 
  3.9   subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
  3.10     Subd. 2.  [COST RECOVERY.] The expenses incurred by the 
  3.11  utility over the duration of the approved contract or useful 
  3.12  life of the investment and expenditures made pursuant to section 
  3.13  116C.779 and agreements with the Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal 
  3.14  Council at Prairie Island regarding the provisions of Laws 1994, 
  3.15  chapter 641, article 1, section 4, shall be recoverable from the 
  3.16  ratepayers of the utility, to the extent they are not offset by 
  3.17  utility revenues attributable to the contracts, investments, or 
  3.18  expenditures.  Upon petition by a public utility, the commission 
  3.19  shall approve or approve as modified a rate schedule providing 
  3.20  for the automatic adjustment of charges to recover the expenses 
  3.21  or costs approved by the commission, which, in the case of 
  3.22  transmission expenditures, are limited to the portion of actual 
  3.23  transmission costs that are directly allocable to the need to 
  3.24  transmit power from the renewable sources of energy.  The 
  3.25  commission may not approve recovery of the costs for that 
  3.26  portion of the power generated from sources governed by this 
  3.27  section that the utility sells into the wholesale market.  
  3.28     Sec. 5.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  3.29     Sections 1 to 4 are effective the day following final 
  3.30  enactment.