FIRST REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. 252

94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY


 

 

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES ROBB (Sponsor), McGHEE, STORCH, MOORE AND SATER (Co-sponsors).

                  Read 1st time January 4, 2007 and copies ordered printed.

D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk

1018L.01I


 

AN ACT

To repeal section 260.750, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to radioactive waste, with an emergency clause.




Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:


            Section A. Section 260.750, RSMo, is repealed and two new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 260.392 and 260.750, to read as follows:

            260.392. 1. As used in this section, the following terms shall mean:

            (1) "Cask", all the components and systems associated with the container in which spent nuclear fuel, high-level radioactive waste, highway route controlled quantity, or transuranic radioactive waste are stored;

            (2) "Entity", the generator, owner, or company responsible for shipment of the spent nuclear fuel, high-level radioactive waste, highway route controlled quantity shipments, transuranic radioactive waste, or low-level radioactive waste;

            (3) "High-level radioactive waste", the highly radioactive material resulting from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel including liquid waste produced directly in reprocessing and any solid material derived from such liquid waste that contains fission products in sufficient concentrations and other highly radioactive material that the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined to be high-level radioactive waste requiring permanent isolation;

            (4) "Highway route controlled quantity", as defined in 49 CFR Part 173.403, as amended, a quantity of radioactive material within a single package;

            (5) "Low-level radioactive waste", any radioactive waste not classified as high-level radioactive waste, transuranic radioactive waste, or spent nuclear fuel and classified as low-level radioactive waste by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission consistent with existing law. Shipment of all sealed sources meeting the definition of low-level radioactive waste, shipment of low-level radioactive waste that are within a radius of no more than fifty miles from the point of origin, and all naturally occurring radioactive waste given written approval for landfill disposal by the department of natural resources under 10 CSR 80.3.010 are exempt from the provisions of this section. Any low-level radioactive waste that has a radioactive half-life equal to or less than one hundred twenty days is exempt from the provisions of this section;

            (6) "Spent nuclear fuel", fuel that has been withdrawn from a nuclear reactor following irradiation, the constituent elements of which have not been separated by reprocessing;

            (7) "State-funded institutions of higher education", any campus of any university within this state that receives state funding and has a nuclear research reactor;

            (8) "Transuranic radioactive waste", as defined in 40 CFR Part 191.02, as amended, a waste containing more than one hundred nanocuries of alpha-emitting transuranic isotopes with half-lives greater than twenty years per gram of waste. For purposes of this section, transuranic waste shall not include:

            (a) High-level radioactive wastes;

            (b) Any waste that the Environmental Protection Agency determined, with the concurrence of the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, do not need the degree of isolation required by this section; or

            (c) Any waste that the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved for disposal on a case-by-case basis in accordance with 10 CFR Part 61, as amended.

            2. Any entity that ships high-level radioactive waste, transuranic waste, highway route controlled quantity shipments, spent nuclear fuel, or low-level radioactive waste through or within this state shall be subject to the fees established in this subsection, provided that no state-funded institution of higher education that ships nuclear waste shall pay any such fee. Such higher education institutions shall reimburse the Missouri state highway patrol directly for all costs related to transport escorts. The fees for all other shipments shall be:

            (1) One thousand eight hundred dollars for each cask of high-level radioactive waste, transuranic radioactive waste, spent nuclear fuel, or highway route controlled quantity shipments transported through or within this state by truck. All casks of high-level radioactive waste, transuranic radioactive waste, spent nuclear fuel, or highway route controlled quantity shipments transported by truck are subject to a surcharge of twenty-five dollars per mile for every mile over two hundred miles traveled in this state;

            (2) One thousand three hundred dollars for the first cask and one hundred twenty-five dollars for each additional cask of high-level radioactive waste, transuranic radioactive waste, or spent nuclear fuel for each rail transport through or within this state;

            (3) One hundred twenty-five dollars for each truck or train transporting low-level radioactive waste through or within this state. The department of natural resources may accept an annual shipment fee as negotiated with a shipper or accept payment per transport or shipment.

            3. All revenue generated from the fees established in subsection 2 of this section shall be deposited into the environmental radiation monitoring fund established in section 260.750 and shall be used by the department of natural resources to achieve the following objective and for purposes related to the transport or shipment of high-level radioactive waste, transuranic radioactive waste, highway route controlled quantity shipments, spent nuclear fuel, or low-level radioactive waste, including but not limited to:

            (1) Inspections, escorts, and security for waste shipment and planning;

            (2) Coordination of emergency response capability;

            (3) Education and training of state, county, and local emergency responders;

            (4) Purchase and maintenance of necessary equipment and supplies for state, county, and local emergency responders through grants or other funding mechanisms;

            (5) Emergency responses to any transportation incident involving the high-level radioactive waste, transuranic radioactive waste, highway route controlled quantity shipments, spent nuclear fuel, or low-level radioactive waste;

            (6) Oversight of any environmental remediation necessary resulting from an incident involving a transport of high-level radioactive waste, transuranic radioactive waste, highway route controlled quantity shipments, spent nuclear fuel, or low-level radioactive waste. Reimbursement for oversight of any such incident shall not reduce or eliminate the liability of any party responsible for the incident. Such party may be liable for full reimbursement of the state or payment of any other costs associated with the cleanup of contamination related to a transportation incident;

            (7) Administrative costs attributable to the state agencies which are incurred through their involvement as it relates to the transport or shipping of high-level radioactive waste, transuranic radioactive waste, highway route controlled quantity shipments, spent nuclear fuel, or low-level radioactive waste through or within this state.

            4. Nothing in this section shall preclude any other state agency from receiving reimbursement from the department of natural resources and the environmental radiation monitoring fund for services rendered that achieve the objectives and comply with the provisions of this section.

            5. The department of natural resources in coordination with the department of health and senior services and the department of public safety may promulgate rules to implement the provisions of this section. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, RSMo, that is created under the authority delegated in this section shall become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536, RSMo, and, if applicable, section 536.028, RSMo. This section and chapter 536, RSMo, are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the general assembly under chapter 536, RSMo, to review, to delay the effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 2007, shall be invalid and void.

            6. All funds deposited in the environmental radiation monitoring fund through fees established in subsection 2 of this section shall be utilized by the department of natural resources, subject to appropriation by the general assembly, for the administration and enforcement of this section. All interest earned by the moneys in the fund shall accrue to the fund.

            7. All fees shall be received by the department of natural resources prior to transport.

            8. Notice of transport of high-level radioactive waste, transuranic radioactive waste, highway route controlled quantity shipments, or spent nuclear fuel through or within this state shall be provided by the shipper to the governor's designee for advanced notification, as described in 10 CFR Parts 71 and 73, as amended, prior to such transport entering the state. Notice of any transport of low-level radioactive waste through or within this state shall be provided by the shipper to the department of natural resources before such transport enters the state.

            9. Any shipper who fails to pay a fee assessed under this section or fails to provide notice of transport shall be liable in a civil action for an amount not to exceed ten times the amount assessed and not paid. The action shall be brought by the attorney general at the request of the department of natural resources. If the action involves a facility domiciled in this state, the action shall be brought in the circuit court of the county in which the facility is located. If the action does not involve a facility domiciled in this state, the action shall be brought in the circuit court of Cole County.

            10. Beginning December 31, 2008, and every two years thereafter, the department of natural resources shall prepare and submit a report on activities of the environmental radiation monitoring fund to the general assembly. This report shall include information on fee income received and expenditures made by the state to enforce and administer the provisions of this section.

            11. The provisions of this section shall not apply to high-level radioactive waste, transuranic radioactive waste, highway route controlled quantity shipments, spent nuclear fuel, or low-level radioactive waste shipped by or for the federal government for military or national defense purposes.

            12. Pursuant to section 23.253, RSMo, of the Missouri Sunset Act:

            (1) The provisions of the new program authorized under this section shall automatically sunset six years after the effective date of this section unless reauthorized by an act of the general assembly; and

            (2) If such program is reauthorized, the program authorized under this section shall automatically sunset twelve years after the effective date of the reauthorization of this section; and

            (3) This section shall terminate on September first of the calendar year immediately following the calendar year in which the program authorized under this section is sunset.

            260.750. 1. The department of natural resources shall develop an environmental radiation monitoring program for the purpose of monitoring radioactivity in air, water, soil, plant and animal life as necessary to insure the protection of the public health and safety of the environment from radiation hazards.

            2. There is hereby created within the state treasury an "Environmental Radiation Monitoring Fund". In addition to general revenue, the department of natural resources is authorized to accept and shall deposit in said fund all gifts, bequests, donations, or other moneys, equipment, supplies, or services from any state, interstate or federal agency, or from any institution, person, firm, or corporation, public or private, as well as fees collected under subsection 2 of section 260.392. This fund shall be used for the environmental radiation monitoring program established in this section and to administer and enforce the provisions of section 260.392.

            Section B. Because immediate action is necessary to enable both the promulgation of rules pertaining to the implementation of section A of this act and to preserve the state's environment, section A of this act is deemed necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, welfare, peace, and safety, and is hereby declared to be an emergency act within the meaning of the constitution, and section A of this act shall be in full force and effect upon its passage and approval.