§ 35-11-1506 — Legislative approval of the siting of high- level radioactive waste storage facilities; conditions

Wyoming § 35-11-1506

• Jurisdiction: Wyoming
• Title 35: Public Health and Safety
• Ch. 11: ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
• Art. 15: RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE FACILITIES

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(a) Except as provided in subsection (e) of this section,
no construction may commence, nor shall any high-level
radioactive waste storage facility be sited within this state,
unless the legislature has enacted legislation approving the
siting, construction and operation of the facility in accord
with this section. Any authorization of a facility under this
section shall not be considered to grant to any person an
exclusive right or franchise to store high-level radioactive
wastes within the state.
(b) In addition to any facility which meets the
requirements of subsection (e) of this section, the legislature
may authorize one (1) or more facilities under subsection (a) of
this section if it finds that:
(i) The siting of a high-level radioactive waste
storage facility within the state is in the best interests of
the people of Wyoming;
(ii) The siting of a high-level radioactive waste
storage facility within the state can be accomplished without
causing irreversible adverse environmental, public health,
social or economic impacts to the state as a whole, and
specifically to the local area hosting the proposed storage
facility;
(iii) The proposed benefits agreement is sufficient
to offset any adverse environmental, public health, social or
economic impacts to the state as a whole, and specifically to
the local area hosting the proposed storage facility; and
(iv) Sufficient safeguards, by contractual assurances
or other means, exist to provide that:
(A) The authorization to site, construct and
operate any proposed storage facility shall be limited to no
more than forty (40) years, provided that extensions may be
granted if the legislature enacts legislation authorizing
nuclear waste storage facilities to operate for more than forty
(40) years;
(B) Any wastes in storage at any facility shall
remain the property of the waste generator or civilian nuclear
power reactor owner, until transferred to permanent storage or
until the federal government takes title to the wastes under the
provisions of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. § 10101 et
seq.;
(C) Conditions substantially equivalent to the
licensing conditions imposed upon monitored retrievable storage
facilities under 42 U.S.C. § 10168(d) existing as of March 1,
1995 shall be effective for any high-level radioactive waste
storage facility authorized under this article; and
(D) There exists either a cooperative agreement
between the state and the nuclear regulatory commission, or such
other legally binding agreement for specific performance between
the director and the applicant, which shall provide for state
regulation of the facility.
(c) With permission of the governor and the management
council, an applicant for either a monitored retrievable storage
facility or an independent spent fuel storage installation may
enter into a preliminary but nonbinding feasibility agreement
and study with the director which shall be submitted to and
reviewed by the director, governor and the management council.
The public shall be afforded a thirty (30) day public comment
opportunity to review the feasibility agreement prior to its
submission to the governor and the management council. The
purposes of this feasibility agreement and study are to allow
the state to make a preliminary determination, whether, on the
basis of the feasibility agreement and study, the proposed
benefits substantially outweigh any adverse effects and to allow
an applicant based on the state's preliminary review of any
proposed benefit to determine whether or not a prudent investor,
planner, builder and operator would decide to proceed with an
application. Upon entering into a feasibility agreement, the
applicant shall pay to the state a fee of eighty thousand
dollars ($80,000.00). Effective July 1, 2018, and annually
thereafter, the fee shall be adjusted for inflation by the
department using the consumer price index or its successor index
of the United States department of labor, bureau of labor
statistics, for the calendar year immediately preceding the date
of adjustment. The fee shall be used by the department for
costs attendant to the preliminary agreement. Excess funds
collected may be used by the department to review an application
submitted under W.S. 35-11-1502. Appropriate time shall be
afforded the director, the governor, the management council and
the applicant to prepare and to evaluate the preliminary
agreement and study, but neither the state nor the applicant
shall unnecessarily delay the feasibility agreement and study.
The preliminary feasibility agreement and study shall not
supersede nor replace other requirements under this act. This
agreement and study shall set forth the following:
(i) The source and adequacy of the financing for the
facility and the applicant's ability to fulfill the terms of any
contract entered into regarding the siting, construction or
operation of the facility. The information required under this
paragraph shall include, but is not limited to, audited
financial statements covering the five (5) year period prior to
the feasibility agreement, a listing of all partners if the
applicant is a partnership and a listing of all persons owning
or controlling five percent (5%) or more of its stock if the
applicant is a corporation;
(ii) Financial strengths of prospective storage
customers;
(iii) The technical experience of the applicant and
his associates in permitting before the nuclear regulatory
commission, and in design, construction and operation of nuclear
facilities;
(iv) The preliminary design plan and technical
feasibility of the planned temporary fuel rod storage facility;
(v) The best estimate of a range of costs for the
permitting, planning and construction of the facility, based
upon available information;
(vi) The proposed storage capacity of the planned
facility, necessary to give reasonable assurance of economic
feasibility, with evidence to show that the proposed storage
capacity will not adversely affect the health and safety of
Wyoming people or the environment;
(vii) How the applicant will proceed with the
facility to assure that its construction, operation and
decommissioning will neither temporarily nor permanently
adversely affect the health and safety of Wyoming people;
(viii) A best estimate of a time frame required to
obtain the necessary permits, including nuclear regulatory
commission licensing, design and construction, and a suggested
time frame for decisions by Wyoming government to meet the
target timetable;
(ix) An outline of transportation plans, including
rail and highway;
(x) Substantial assurances that the facility is
temporary, including options for that assurance including a time
frame for the movement of the temporarily stored fuel rods to a
permanent repository, delivery of the stored rods to
reprocessing centers or to a purchaser, domestic or foreign,
buying the rods for future reprocessing;
(xi) A range of benefits the nearby communities and
the state might expect in return for temporarily storing the
fuel rods, and a best estimate of when the benefits might begin
to be received by the nearby communities and state;
(xii) A mutual review, by the state and applicant, of
a range of taxes the state might reasonably impose on the
facility and the fuel rods while they are in temporary storage
including the annual acceptance taxes to be levied on fuel rods,
based upon the kilograms of fuel rods stored at the Wyoming
facility;
(xiii) A description of security measures that would
be installed in and around the facility to isolate and protect
it from intruders;
(xiv) A description of an emergency response
procedure in the event of an unusual occurrence;
(xv) An outline of the information program an
applicant would initiate to explain its plans to the community
and state;
(xvi) A description of site suitability
characteristics and evidence that the applicant's proposed site
for the facility meets those characteristics;
(xvii) Evidence of support from nearby Wyoming
communities for exploring the project.
(d) If the legislature authorizes the siting of a facility
under subsection (a) of this section, the department shall issue
a permit incorporating the conditions presented to the
legislature including the benefits agreement. The issuance of
the permit is not appealable to the environmental quality
council. The permit shall also include a provision for payment
by the permittee of inspection and review costs unless such
costs are included in the benefits agreement.
(e) The legislature hereby authorizes the siting of
temporary high-level radioactive waste storage facilities within
this state subject to the following:
(i) A facility is authorized if:
(A) It is operated on the site of and to store
the high-level radioactive waste or spent nuclear fuel produced
by a nuclear power generation facility operating within the
state;
(B) The facility has received a license to
construct and operate from the United States nuclear regulatory
commission;
(C) The report required under paragraph (vi) of
this subsection has been submitted; and
(D) The operator of the facility is in
compliance with paragraph (vii) of this subsection.
(ii) Repealed by Laws 2022, ch. 103, § 2.
(iii) Repealed by Laws 2022, ch. 103, § 2.
(iv) Repealed by Laws 2022, ch. 103, § 2.
(v) Repealed by Laws 2022, ch. 103, § 2.
(vi) Not later than thirty (30) days before
construction of a nuclear electric generation facility
commences, the operator of the facility shall submit a report to
the department that includes:
(A) The number of jobs that will be created in
the planning, permitting, licensing, site analysis and
preparation, purchasing, construction, transportation, operation
and decommissioning of the facility and what number of those
jobs would be filled by Wyoming residents;
(B) Local and state taxes that are estimated to
be generated by all aspects of the construction, operation and
decommissioning of the facility;
(C) All benefits and impacts that will accrue to
the state and the local community where the facility will be
located, including benefits from job training, education,
communication systems, monitoring and security systems.
(vii) The operator of each facility shall send to the
department copies of all publicly available reports,
notifications and violations sent to or from the United States
nuclear regulatory commission or the operator of the facility as
soon as practicable but not later than five (5) days after the
operator sends or receives the report. The operator shall also
transmit all information required under this subsection to
emergency management departments of the local governments where
the facility is located and shall make the information available
on a public website.