II
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 649
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 5, 2019
Ms. Cortez Masto (for herself and Ms. Rosen) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Energy to obtain the consent of affected State and local governments before making an expenditure from the Nuclear Waste Fund for a nuclear waste repository, and for other purposes.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act
.
Definitions
In this Act, the terms affected Indian tribe, affected unit of local government, high-level radioactive waste, repository, Secretary, spent nuclear fuel, and unit of general local government have the meanings given the terms in section 2 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101).
Consent based approval
In general
The Secretary may not make an expenditure from the Nuclear Waste Fund established under section 302(c) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10222(c)) for the costs of the activities described in paragraphs (4) and (5) of section 302(d) of that Act (42 U.S.C. 10222(d)) unless the Secretary has entered into an agreement for a repository with—
the Governor of the State in which the repository is proposed to be located;
each affected unit of local government;
any unit of general local government contiguous to the affected unit of local government if spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste will be transported through that unit of general local government for disposal at the repository; and
each affected Indian tribe.
Conditions on agreement
Any agreement for a repository under this Act—
shall be in writing and signed by all parties;
shall be binding on the parties; and
shall not be amended or revoked except by mutual agreement of the parties.
