West Valley Remediation Act of 2007 - Expresses the intent of Congress that the federal government should achieve complete remediation of all radioactive, solid, and hazardous waste contamination at the Western New York Nuclear Service Center in West Valley, New York.
States that this Act: (1) establishes exclusive federal responsibility for the complete remediation of the Center; and (2) replaces and supersedes the West Valley Demonstration Project Act.
Directs the Secretary of Energy to employ the best current technologies and develop new state-of-the-art technologies and methodologies to complete remediation of the Center, including: (1) decontamination and decommissioning; (2) transportation of high level radioactive waste to a federal repository for permanent disposal; and (3) disposal of low level radioactive and transuranic waste.
Directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to regulate the remediation of radioactive waste and nuclear materials at the Center according to prescribed guidelines.
Directs the Secretary to: ( 1) prepare any environmental impact statement for decommissioning or long-term stewardship of the Center in cooperation with the NRC and federal and state agencies; (2) assume exclusive use and possession of the entire Center; (3) take title to land or facilities at the Center that have not been approved by the NRC for release for unrestricted use; and (4) take title to radioactive and nonradioactive wastes and materials located at the Center.
Repeals the West Valley Demonstration Project Act upon assumption by the Secretary of exclusive use and possession of the entire Center.
[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2476 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2476
To authorize the United States Department of Energy to remediate the
Western New York Nuclear Service Center in the Town of Ashford, New
York, and dispose of nuclear waste.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 24, 2007
Mr. Kuhl of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the United States Department of Energy to remediate the
Western New York Nuclear Service Center in the Town of Ashford, New
York, and dispose of nuclear waste.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``West Valley Remediation Act of
2007''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) The Federal Government has had the primary and central
role in initiating, establishing, and providing material for
spent nuclear fuel reprocessing and waste burial operations at
the Center.
(2) The Federal Government has availed itself of spent
nuclear fuel reprocessing operations at the Center, and has
benefited from such operations to process and store at the
Center radioactively contaminated materials generated in, and
by, various Federal civilian and military programs.
(3) Under the West Valley Demonstration Project Act, New
York State has contributed over $200,000,000 toward site
remediation, making New York the only State that has
contributed toward the cleanup of a high-level radioactive
waste site.
(4) Since passage of the West Valley Demonstration Project
Act, substantial progress has been made in the remediation of
radioactive wastes at the Center, but the remediation of the
Center has not been completed.
(5) The Federal Government agreed in 1987 to prepare an
environmental impact statement concerning closure for the post-
vitrification phase of the West Valley Demonstration Project,
as will be needed for remediation of the Center, and has made
substantial progress since then in preparing such an
environmental impact statement for the Center, including the
issuance of a draft environmental impact statement in 1996, but
the environmental impact statement has not been completed.
(6) The lack of certainty about Federal responsibility for
the remaining remediation necessary at the Center may impede
progress toward completion of the cleanup.
(7) Completion of the remaining remediation at the Center
in a prompt, thorough, and effective manner, in full compliance
with all applicable State and Federal laws and regulations, is
in the best interest of the United States, the Great Lakes
region as a whole, the State and its citizens, and the Seneca
Nation of Indians and its members, which Nation occupies
ancestral territory downstream of the Center.
(8) The facilities and contamination at the Center are
located on or in Pleistocene glacial deposits that are being
actively eroded by nearby creeks that drain into the Great
Lakes basin. To maintain the long-term stability of any
facilities that may remain at the Center, active monitoring and
maintenance of erosion controls and other engineered features
will be required for as long as any residual radioactive and
hazardous waste and materials that may remain at the Center
present a hazard to the public.
(9) Public participation has been an important part of the
work already done, and the planning now in progress, toward
remediation of radioactive wastes at the Center.
(b) Purposes.--(1) It is the intent of Congress that the Federal
Government achieve complete remediation of all radioactive, solid, and
hazardous waste contamination at the Center in a manner that is
protective of the Great Lakes region and its residents and is
consistent with all applicable State and Federal laws and regulations
regarding public health and safety.
(2) This Act establishes exclusive Federal responsibility for the
complete remediation of the Center.
(3) The Secretary shall employ the best current technologies and
develop new state-of-the-art technologies and methodologies to
accomplish the complete remediation of the Center.
(4) This Act recognizes the importance of State, Tribal, and public
involvement in the development, selection, enforcement, and monitoring
of remedial actions undertaken at the Center, to protect the health and
safety of the citizens and environment of the Great Lakes region.
(5) This Act shall replace and supersede the West Valley
Demonstration Project Act.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act:
(1) The term ``Center'' means--
(A) the Western New York Nuclear Service Center in
West Valley, New York; and
(B) all land, roads, structures, including
buildings, fixtures, containers, and radioactive,
hazardous, and solid waste and nuclear material at the
Western New York Nuclear Service Center, including the
reprocessing and storage facilities, equipment, above-
ground and underground tanks, solidified radioactive
waste, and radioactive and nonradioactive wastes and
materials in the State and Commission licensed disposal
areas, located within the legal boundaries of the
Western New York Nuclear Service Center.
(2) The term ``Commission'' means the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
(3) The term ``hazardous waste'' means any solid waste
designated as hazardous waste under 40 CFR Part 261 or as may
be subsequently defined as such by the Environmental Protection
Agency, any solid waste designated as a hazardous waste under
the State program authorized by the Environmental Protection
Agency pursuant to the Solid Waste Disposal Act, and any waste
material designated as a hazardous waste under any other State
statute or regulation.
(4) The term ``high level radioactive waste'' means the
high level radioactive waste which was produced by the
reprocessing at the Center of spent nuclear fuel. Such term
includes both liquid wastes which are produced directly in
reprocessing, dry solid material derived from such liquid
waste, and any such other material the Commission designates as
high level radioactive waste for purposes of protecting public
health and safety.
(5) The term ``License Termination Rule'' means the rule of
the Commission published at 62 Federal Register 39058.
(6) The term ``low level radioactive waste'' means
radioactive waste not classified as high level radioactive
waste, spent nuclear fuel, transuranic waste, or byproduct
material as defined in section 11 e.(2) of the Atomic Energy
Act of 1954.
(7) The term ``nuclear materials'' means any special
nuclear material, source material, or byproduct material as
defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and 10 CFR Part 40, or
other such material as the Commission may subsequently
designate as special, source, or byproduct nuclear material.
(8) The term ``radioactive waste'' means low level
radioactive waste, transuranic waste, and high level
radioactive waste.
(9) The term ``remediation'' means activities or processes
used to remove, destroy, degrade, transform, immobilize, or
treat radioactive, solid, or hazardous waste.
(10) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Energy.
(11) The term ``solid waste'' means any material that is
designated as solid waste under 40 CFR Part 261 or as may be
subsequently defined as such by the Environmental Protection
Agency, under the State program authorized by the Environmental
Protection Agency pursuant to the Solid Waste Disposal Act, or
under any other State statute or regulation.
(12) The term ``State'' means the State of New York.
(13) The term ``transuranic waste'' means material
contaminated with elements which have an atomic number greater
than 92, including neptunium, plutonium, americium, and curium,
and which are in concentrations greater than 10 nanocuries per
gram, or in such other concentrations as the Commission may
prescribe to protect the public health and safety.
SEC. 4. REMEDIATION OF THE CENTER.
(a) The Secretary shall take all actions necessary to remediate the
Center in a manner that is timely, protective of human health and the
environment, consistent with the License Termination Rule, and
consistent with all applicable requirements of Federal and State law,
including closure and post-closure requirements set forth in Federal or
State environmental laws, and the provisions of this Act. As part of
such remediation, the Secretary shall decontaminate and decommission--
(1) the tanks and other facilities of the Center in which
the high level radioactive waste solidified under the West
Valley Demonstration Project Act was stored;
(2) the facilities used in the solidification of the waste;
and
(3) any material and hardware used in connection with the
West Valley Demonstration Project.
(b) The Secretary shall be responsible for all costs associated
with such remediation.
SEC. 5. RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL REQUIREMENTS.
(a) The Secretary shall, as soon as feasible, transport the high
level radioactive waste at the Center to an appropriate Federal
repository for permanent disposal. Pending such transportation, the
Secretary shall take appropriate measures to safeguard such waste and
ensure its safe storage in a manner consistent with public health and
safety and Commission regulations or orders.
(b) The Secretary shall, as soon as feasible, in accordance with
applicable law, including applicable licensing requirements, dispose of
low level radioactive waste and transuranic waste currently located at
the Center and such radioactive waste as may in the future be generated
as a result of the remediation authorized by this Act.
(c) For purposes of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, all high
level radioactive waste at the Center shall be considered waste
generated by atomic energy defense activities. For purposes of the
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Land Withdrawal Act, any transuranic waste
at the Center shall be considered radioactive waste generated by atomic
energy defense activities.
SEC. 6. REGULATION BY THE COMMISSION.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Commission
shall regulate the remediation of radioactive waste and nuclear
materials at the Center as set forth in this section. The Commission is
authorized to promulgate such new or revised rules as it may deem
necessary and appropriate to assume such responsibility.
(b)(1) Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this
Act, the Secretary shall develop and submit to the Commission for
review and approval a decommissioning plan that meets the criteria set
forth in the License Termination Rule and that addresses the
radioactive wastes and nuclear materials at the Center.
(2) Prior to any preliminary or final decision made by the
Commission on the Secretary's plan, the Commission shall provide a
reasonable opportunity for the State to review, comment on, and concur
or not concur with the decommissioning plan submitted by the Secretary
and any modifications to such plan.
(3) The Secretary shall implement the decommissioning plan approved
by the Commission.
(c) In making its determination, the Commission shall apply the
process and criteria set forth in the License Termination Rule. The
Commission shall further apply the procedures provided in its
regulations for the approval and enforcement of decommissioning plans
to the decommissioning plan for the Center.
(d) Upon assumption of possession by the Secretary, as provided for
in section 9, all licenses and permits for facilities at the Center
issued by the Commission shall be held in abeyance until the completion
of the radiological remedial action program authorized by this Act.
(e) Upon completion of the radiological remedial action program
authorized by this Act, or sooner upon request of the New York State
Energy Research and Development Authority, the Secretary shall assist
the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority in
applying to the Commission to terminate, for the entire Center or such
portions of the Center as may qualify, the license issued by the
Commission.
(f) If, after application of the License Termination Rule to all
portions of the Center, the entire Center is not released for
unrestricted use, the Center, or if appropriate a portion or portions
thereof, shall be maintained by the Secretary, or such other Federal
agency as the President may designate. The Secretary or such other
agency shall apply for a license or licenses from the Commission and
the Commission shall apply such procedures and standards as the
Commission would normally employ to issue licenses for such materials
so as to protect the public health and safety and the environment. If
the requirements of such a licensing process cannot be met, the
Secretary shall conduct such additional radiological remedial action as
shall be needed to qualify for a license.
(g) The Secretary shall submit to the Commission safety analysis
reports and such other information as the Commission may require to
identify any danger to the public health and safety which may be
presented by the remediation required under this Act or the conditions
at the Center.
(h) The Secretary shall afford the Commission access to the Center
to enable the Commission to carry out the activities assigned to it
under this Act.
SEC. 7. NEW YORK STATE INVOLVEMENT.
(a) The Secretary shall consult with the New York State Department
of Environmental Conservation, and any such other agency as the
Governor of the State may designate, in carrying out this Act. Not
later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Secretary shall enter into an agreement with the State to establish
arrangements for consultation with the State regarding remediation of
the Center, and, if the Center is not remediated to allow unrestricted
use, consultation on maintenance of licensed portions of the Center.
(b) The agreement entered into under subsection (a) shall include
provisions for--
(1) the State's review and comment on data and draft
documents; and
(2) the Secretary's response to the State's comments.
(c) The Secretary shall provide the State access to the Center, at
all reasonable times, for the purpose of protecting the public health
and safety and the environment. This shall include access to collect
samples, take measurements, and observe ongoing activities and
conditions.
SEC. 8. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT.
(a) Pursuant to obligations under the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969, the Secretary shall prepare any environmental impact
statement for decommissioning or long-term stewardship of the Center in
cooperation with the Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency,
and such other Federal and State agencies as may be appropriate, and
shall do so as a continuation of the environmental impact statement
process commenced by notice of intent issued in 1988.
(b) The Secretary shall issue a revised draft environmental impact
statement within 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act.
(c) The environmental impact statement process referred to in
subsections (a) and (b), including records of decision by the Secretary
and the Commission, shall be completed as soon as reasonably
practicable.
(d) The Secretary shall hold and undertake meetings on a quarterly
basis at a location at or near the Center, to which members of the
local educational, scientific, and political communities shall be
invited, so that the Secretary can advise such participants of the
status of the environmental impact statement process, including current
results, and in order to receive public comment.
(e) The Secretary shall make available to any member of the public,
at a public reading room at the Center, for inspection, upon reasonable
notice, at reasonable hours and without payment of a fee or charge,
those documents related to the preparation of the environmental impact
statement referred to in this section, including background information
subject to disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United States Code
(popularly known as the Freedom of Information Act), that are requested
in writing by such member of the public. Copies of any such documents
shall be provided by the Secretary upon the payment of the charges
provided for under such section 552.
SEC. 9. ASSUMPTION OF POSSESSION AND TRANSFER OF TITLE.
(a) Not later than 30 days after execution of the Cooperative
Agreement provided for in section 10, the Secretary shall assume
exclusive use and possession of the entire Center.
(b) Upon completion of all remediation required under this Act, or
20 years after the date of enactment of this Act, whichever comes
sooner, the Secretary shall take title to any land or facilities at the
Center that have not been approved by the Commission for release for
unrestricted use, and title to all radioactive and nonradioactive
wastes and materials located at any such portions of the Center in
accordance with all applicable Federal and State laws and requirements.
(c) So long as the Secretary remains in possession or holds title
to the Center, or any portion thereof, neither the Secretary nor any
other person or entity, including any governmental entity, shall
transport or allow the transport of any solid, hazardous, or
radioactive waste to the Center for the purpose of storing, treating,
or disposing of such waste at the Center.
SEC. 10. COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT.
Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Secretary shall enter into a Cooperative Agreement with the New York
State Energy Research and Development Authority, or such other agency
as the Governor of the State shall designate, which shall contain the
following:
(1) Such provisions as may be necessary to effectuate the
possession and transfer of title provisions contained in
section 9 and to facilitate the release and transfer to third
parties of uncontaminated portions of the Center, as
appropriate.
(2) Provisions for the Secretary to assist the New York
State Energy Research and Development Authority, or such other
agency as the Governor of the State may designate, in making
such permit or license applications as may be necessary to
carry out this Act.
(3) Sharing with the New York State Energy Research and
Development Authority, or such other agency as the Governor of
the State shall designate, of information and plans relevant to
the remediation of the Center by the Secretary and to license
or permit applications as may be necessary to carry out this
Act.
(4) Indemnification of the State, and any relevant
instrumentality of the State that may hold title to the Center,
by the Secretary against any claims, damages, losses, and
expenses (including reasonable attorney's and expert witness'
fees) or liabilities, arising out of or resulting from the
performance by the Secretary or the Secretary's agents or
contractors of (or failure to perform) the Secretary's
obligations under this Act.
SEC. 11. REPEAL OF THE WEST VALLEY DEMONSTRATION PROJECT ACT.
Upon assumption of exclusive use and possession of the entire
Center by the Secretary, as provided for in section 9, the West Valley
Demonstration Project Act is repealed.
SEC. 12. APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) To implement the requirements of this Act, there are authorized
to be appropriated to the Secretary $110,000,000 for each fiscal year
until the remediation of the Center required by section 4 is completed.
After the remediation of the Center is completed, there are authorized
to be appropriated for each fiscal year thereafter such sums as are
necessary for the Secretary to carry out the activities required under
this Act and any licenses or permits concerning the Center issued to
the Secretary under Federal or State law.
(b) There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary an
additional amount of 5 percent of the amount appropriated under
subsection (a) for each fiscal year, to be paid to the West Valley
Central School District, in the month of September, and the Town of
Ashford, West Valley Fire District No. 1, and Cattaraugus County, in
the month of January, in such proportions as such entities would
normally receive in taxes. After the remediation of the Center is
completed and until such time as all Center property is released for
unrestricted use, there are authorized to be appropriated to the
Secretary an additional amount of $3,000,000 for each fiscal year, to
be paid to the local entities set forth above in the same proportions.
This payment is to offset the hardship suffered by the community as a
result of the use of the Center property for the management of
radioactive waste generated by the Federal Government.
(c) The authority of the Secretary to enter into contracts under
this Act shall be effective for any fiscal year only to such extent or
in such amounts as are provided in advance by appropriation acts.
SEC. 13. NO EFFECT ON OTHER AUTHORITIES.
(a) This Act in no way preempts or otherwise limits the force or
scope of any otherwise applicable Federal or State laws, regulations,
or treaties, unless specifically so provided in this Act.
(b) This Act shall not supersede or repeal the Stipulation of
Compromise Settlement entered into by the United States and the
Department of Energy on May 27, 1987, in the matter captioned Coalition
on West Valley Nuclear Wastes v. Department of Energy in the Western
District of New York, Civil Case No. 86-1052-C, and this Act shall not
diminish or alter the terms of that Stipulation.
(c) Nothing in this Act shall affect in any way the Secretary's
obligations to comply with the Department of Energy American Indian and
Alaska Native Tribal Government Policy, and Executive Order 13175 on
Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments, or any
other policy or order that ensures effective implementation of a
government to government relationship between the Unites States and
tribal governments, including fulfillment of trust obligations and
equal protection measures arising from Department of Energy actions
which may potentially impact American Indian traditional, cultural, and
religious values and practices, natural resources, and treaty and other
federally-recognized and reserved rights.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line