This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to prioritize fulfilling the federal governments legal and contractual obligation to provide a home for spent nuclear fuel within California and 33 other states across the nation, and would urge Congress and the United States Department of Energy to take action to permit the relocation of the spent nuclear fuel in California and elsewhere to consolidated interim storage and ultimately a permanent repository.

This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to prioritize fulfilling the federal governments legal and contractual obligation to provide a home for spent nuclear fuel within California and 33 other states across the nation, and would urge Congress and the United States Department of Energy to take action to permit the relocation of the spent nuclear fuel in California and elsewhere to consolidated interim storage and ultimately a permanent repository.

This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to prioritize fulfilling the federal governments legal and contractual obligation to provide a home for spent nuclear fuel within California and 33 other states across the nation, and would urge Congress and the United States Department of Energy to take action to permit the relocation of the spent nuclear fuel in California and elsewhere to consolidated interim storage and ultimately a permanent repository.

WHEREAS, California is home to four de facto interim spent nuclear fuel storage sites: the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in the County of San Luis Obispo, the Humboldt Bay Power Plant in the County of Humboldt, the Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station in the County of Sacramento, and the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in the County of San Diego; and

WHEREAS, Spent nuclear fuel can be safely stored at reactor sites for decades, but communities in the vicinity of these and other commercial nuclear plants never consented to the long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel; and

WHEREAS, Twelve United States commercial nuclear power reactors have been permanently closed over the last decade and United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses for 85 of the nations 92 commercial nuclear reactors are scheduled to expire by 2050, stranding spent nuclear fuel and hampering efforts to restore sites for other productive uses; and

WHEREAS, The United States inventory of spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors now exceeds 90,000 metric tons of uranium (MTU) located at 76 sites in 34 states; and

WHEREAS, The amount of spent nuclear fuel is projected to increase nationwide at an average rate of approximately 1,800 MTU per year, accumulating an estimated 137,000 MTU by 2050, nearly twice the statutory limit for storing spent fuel at the only permanent disposal facility, known as a deep geologic repository, authorized to accept spent nuclear fuel in the United States; and

WHEREAS, The federal government has failed to meet its obligation to assume title, liability, and transportation of spent nuclear fuel now stranded in California and 33 other states as it was required to beginning in 1998, under the federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (Public Law 97-425) and by contract; and

WHEREAS, More than a decade has passed since the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission on Americas Nuclear Future issued its final report providing recommendations regarding siting future nuclear waste management facilities and options for waste disposal, and little progress has been made toward implementing its recommendations; and

WHEREAS, As of September 2020, the General Accounting Office reports that since the year 2000, all taxpayers in the United States have been forced to pay $9,000,000,000 in damages for costs incurred to store spent nuclear fuel at reactor sites, and that these costs will grow to as much as $30,600,000,000, until the federal government provides a consolidated interim storage facility or a deep geologic repository and takes custody of the spent nuclear fuel; and

WHEREAS, Nuclear utility customers have prepaid $46,000,000,000, including interest income, into the federal Nuclear Waste Fund for the development of storage and disposal facilities, including $2,000,000,000 from California customers; and

WHEREAS, Assembly Joint Resolution 29 of the 201516 Regular Session, Relative to the Interim Consolidated Storage Act of 2015, adopted unanimously by the Assembly and the Senate, urged the passage of federal legislation to authorize interim consolidated storage and give priority for storage to high-level nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel located on a site without an operating nuclear reactor, and called upon the United States Department of Energy to implement the prompt and safe relocation of spent nuclear fuel from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station to a licensed and regulated interim consolidated storage facility; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California respectfully urges the Congress of the United States to prioritize fulfilling the federal governments legal and contractual obligation to provide a home for the spent fuel within California and 33 other states across the nation; and, be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California respectfully urges the 118th Congress and the United States Department of Energy to take action on the recommendations contained in the final report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Americas Nuclear Future by developing the necessary statutory and regulatory framework, including revisions to the federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, to permit the relocation of the spent nuclear fuel in California and elsewhere to consolidated interim storage and ultimately a permanent repository; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the United States Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and to the Secretary of Energy.

WHEREAS, California is home to four de facto interim spent nuclear fuel storage sites: the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in the County of San Luis Obispo, the Humboldt Bay Power Plant in the County of Humboldt, the Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station in the County of Sacramento, and the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in the County of San Diego; and

WHEREAS, Spent nuclear fuel can be safely stored at reactor sites for decades, but communities in the vicinity of these and other commercial nuclear plants never consented to the long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel; and

WHEREAS, Twelve United States commercial nuclear power reactors have been permanently closed over the last decade and United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses for 85 of the nations 92 commercial nuclear reactors are scheduled to expire by 2050, stranding spent nuclear fuel and hampering efforts to restore sites for other productive uses; and

WHEREAS, The United States inventory of spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors now exceeds 90,000 metric tons of uranium (MTU) located at 76 sites in 34 states; and

WHEREAS, The amount of spent nuclear fuel is projected to increase nationwide at an average rate of approximately 1,800 MTU per year, accumulating an estimated 137,000 MTU by 2050, nearly twice the statutory limit for storing spent fuel at the only permanent disposal facility, known as a deep geologic repository, authorized to accept spent nuclear fuel in the United States; and

WHEREAS, The federal government has failed to meet its obligation to assume title, liability, and transportation of spent nuclear fuel now stranded in California and 33 other states as it was required to beginning in 1998, under the federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (Public Law 97-425) and by contract; and

WHEREAS, More than a decade has passed since the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission on Americas Nuclear Future issued its final report providing recommendations regarding siting future nuclear waste management facilities and options for waste disposal, and little progress has been made toward implementing its recommendations; and

WHEREAS, As of September 2020, the General Accounting Office reports that since the year 2000, all taxpayers in the United States have been forced to pay $9,000,000,000 in damages for costs incurred to store spent nuclear fuel at reactor sites, and that these costs will grow to as much as $30,600,000,000, until the federal government provides a consolidated interim storage facility or a deep geologic repository and takes custody of the spent nuclear fuel; and

WHEREAS, Nuclear utility customers have prepaid $46,000,000,000, including interest income, into the federal Nuclear Waste Fund for the development of storage and disposal facilities, including $2,000,000,000 from California customers; and

WHEREAS, Assembly Joint Resolution 29 of the 201516 Regular Session, Relative to the Interim Consolidated Storage Act of 2015, adopted unanimously by the Assembly and the Senate, urged the passage of federal legislation to authorize interim consolidated storage and give priority for storage to high-level nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel located on a site without an operating nuclear reactor, and called upon the United States Department of Energy to implement the prompt and safe relocation of spent nuclear fuel from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station to a licensed and regulated interim consolidated storage facility; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California respectfully urges the Congress of the United States to prioritize fulfilling the federal governments legal and contractual obligation to provide a home for the spent fuel within California and 33 other states across the nation; and, be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California respectfully urges the 118th Congress and the United States Department of Energy to take action on the recommendations contained in the final report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Americas Nuclear Future by developing the necessary statutory and regulatory framework, including revisions to the federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, to permit the relocation of the spent nuclear fuel in California and elsewhere to consolidated interim storage and ultimately a permanent repository; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the United States Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and to the Secretary of Energy.

WHEREAS, California is home to four de facto interim spent nuclear fuel storage sites: the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in the County of San Luis Obispo, the Humboldt Bay Power Plant in the County of Humboldt, the Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station in the County of Sacramento, and the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in the County of San Diego; and

WHEREAS, Spent nuclear fuel can be safely stored at reactor sites for decades, but communities in the vicinity of these and other commercial nuclear plants never consented to the long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel; and

WHEREAS, Twelve United States commercial nuclear power reactors have been permanently closed over the last decade and United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses for 85 of the nations 92 commercial nuclear reactors are scheduled to expire by 2050, stranding spent nuclear fuel and hampering efforts to restore sites for other productive uses; and

WHEREAS, The United States inventory of spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors now exceeds 90,000 metric tons of uranium (MTU) located at 76 sites in 34 states; and

WHEREAS, The amount of spent nuclear fuel is projected to increase nationwide at an average rate of approximately 1,800 MTU per year, accumulating an estimated 137,000 MTU by 2050, nearly twice the statutory limit for storing spent fuel at the only permanent disposal facility, known as a deep geologic repository, authorized to accept spent nuclear fuel in the United States; and

WHEREAS, The federal government has failed to meet its obligation to assume title, liability, and transportation of spent nuclear fuel now stranded in California and 33 other states as it was required to beginning in 1998, under the federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (Public Law 97-425) and by contract; and

WHEREAS, More than a decade has passed since the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission on Americas Nuclear Future issued its final report providing recommendations regarding siting future nuclear waste management facilities and options for waste disposal, and little progress has been made toward implementing its recommendations; and

WHEREAS, As of September 2020, the General Accounting Office reports that since the year 2000, all taxpayers in the United States have been forced to pay $9,000,000,000 in damages for costs incurred to store spent nuclear fuel at reactor sites, and that these costs will grow to as much as $30,600,000,000, until the federal government provides a consolidated interim storage facility or a deep geologic repository and takes custody of the spent nuclear fuel; and

WHEREAS, Nuclear utility customers have prepaid $46,000,000,000, including interest income, into the federal Nuclear Waste Fund for the development of storage and disposal facilities, including $2,000,000,000 from California customers; and

WHEREAS, Assembly Joint Resolution 29 of the 201516 Regular Session, Relative to the Interim Consolidated Storage Act of 2015, adopted unanimously by the Assembly and the Senate, urged the passage of federal legislation to authorize interim consolidated storage and give priority for storage to high-level nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel located on a site without an operating nuclear reactor, and called upon the United States Department of Energy to implement the prompt and safe relocation of spent nuclear fuel from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station to a licensed and regulated interim consolidated storage facility; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California respectfully urges the Congress of the United States to prioritize fulfilling the federal governments legal and contractual obligation to provide a home for the spent fuel within California and 33 other states across the nation; and, be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California respectfully urges the 118th Congress and the United States Department of Energy to take action on the recommendations contained in the final report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Americas Nuclear Future by developing the necessary statutory and regulatory framework, including revisions to the federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, to permit the relocation of the spent nuclear fuel in California and elsewhere to consolidated interim storage and ultimately a permanent repository; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the United States Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and to the Secretary of Energy.

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: AJR 18

Author: Davies (R), et al.

Introduced: 5/9/24

Vote: 21

SENATE ENERGY, U. & C. COMMITTEE: 11-0, 8/13/24

AYES: Bradford, Dahle, Ashby, Becker, Dodd, Eggman, Grove, Min, Newman, Seyarto, Wilk

NO VOTE RECORDED: Caballero, Durazo, Gonzalez, Limón, Rubio, Skinner, Stern

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 66-0, 8/5/24 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Spent nuclear fuel: storage

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This resolution urges the U.S. Congress to prioritize fulfilling the federal government’s legal and contractual obligation to provide a home for spent nuclear fuel currently stored at sites in California and 33 other states. Furthermore, this measure urges the U.S. Congress and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) to take action to permit the relocation of the spent nuclear fuel in California and elsewhere to consolidated interim storage and ultimately a permanent repository.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Establishes, under federal law, the U.S. Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) which :
   1. Establishes a comprehensive federal program for the safe, permanent disposal of radioactive wastes.
   2. Requires the federal government to take possession of and permanently dispose of spent nuclear fuel generated at civilian nuclear reactors.
   3. Supports the use of deep geological repositories for the safe storage and/or disposal of radioactive waste. Establishes procedures to evaluate and select sites for geologic repositories and for the interaction of state and federal governments.
   4. Directs the DOE to consider Yucca Mountain, Nevada as the primary site for the first geologic repository.
   5. Prohibits the DOE from conducting site specific activities at a second site unless authorized by the U.S. Congress.
   6. Establishes a commission to study the need and feasibility of a monitored retrievable storage facility. (U.S. Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. §10101, et seq.)
2. Prohibits any nuclear fission thermal power plant requiring the reprocessing of fuel rods from being permitted unless: (a) the federal government has identified and approved, and there exists a technology for the construction and operation of, nuclear fuel rod reprocessing plant; and (b) the U.S. through its authorized agency has approved and there exists a demonstrated technology or means of high-level nuclear waste. (Public Resources Code §§25524.1-25524.2)

This resolution:

1. Makes numerous findings and declarations concerning the spent nuclear fuel stored onsite at reactors in California and other states, the growth of spent nuclear fuel, the failure of the federal government to address nuclear waste, the more than a decade since the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future issued its final report, and various costs associated with nuclear waste.
2. Urges the U.S. Congress to prioritize fulfilling the federal government’s legal and contractual obligation to provide a home for spent nuclear fuel currently stored at sites in California and 33 other states.
3. Urges the 118^th Congress and the DOE to take action on the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission final report, including revisions to the federal NWPA, to permit the relocation of the spent nuclear fuel in California and elsewhere to consolidated interim storage and ultimately a permanent repository.

Background

1. Nuclear power in California. Four large-scale commercial nuclear power plants were built and operated in the state, each of which is storing varying levels of spent nuclear fuel onsite:

• Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant was a 63 MW plant owned by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) that operated from August 1963 to July 1976 and permanently closed in 1983 due to the economics of seismic retrofits following a moderate earthquake from a previously unknown fault just off the coast.
• Rancho Seco Nuclear Power Plant, located 25 miles east of Sacramento, was a 913 MW power plant owned by Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) that operated from April 1975 to June 1989. The power plant was closed by public referendum.
• SONGs was an over 2,000 MW power plant, located in northern San Diego County, which is jointly owned by Southern California Edison (SCE) (78.2 percent ownership), San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) (20 percent ownership), and the City of Riverside Utilities Department (1.8 percent ownership). The plant began operation with Unit 1 in 1968, which ended in 1992. Units 2 and 3 began operation in 1983 and 1984, respectively. In January 2012, a unit at the plant went offline due to tubing wear issues, subsequently, in June 2013, plant owners announced the remaining units at the plant would be permanently retired.
• Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant is a 2,200 MW power plant that began operating in 1985, is located on the coast near San Luis Obispo and owned by PG&E. In June 2016, PG&E announced a joint proposal with some labor and environmental organizations to phase out nuclear power and retire Unit 1 in November 2024 and Unit 2 in August 2025. However, legislation, SB 846 (Dodd, Chapter 239, Statutes of 2022), has authorized a five-year extension of each of the units, pending federal licensing, among other requirements.

1. Spent nuclear fuel. The four power plants utilize(ed) fission technology, the conventional process of nuclear electricity generation, whereby uranium atoms are split to release energy in the form of heat used to produce steam to drive turbine electrical power generators. The process incorporates nuclear fuel rods, ceramic pellets of uranium oxide, about the size of a finger joint, which are stacked and sealed inside a long metal tube about as wide as a sharpie pen. “Spent fuel” refers to fuel used in commercial nuclear reactors that has been removed because it can no longer economically sustain a nuclear reaction. Spent nuclear fuel from power plants can either be processed to recover usable uranium and plutonium, or it can be managed as a waste for ultimate long-term disposal. Fuel processing is not commercially available in the U.S., as a result, spent fuel is typically held in temporary storage at reactor sites, often beginning in wet storage and then transferred to dry storage casks. Generally, the temporary storage may be available for decades. However, concerns about the safe storage of nuclear waste have prompted communities neighboring nuclear generating facilities to urge relocation of nuclear waste and support calls for interim and permanent storage. Natural disasters have further bolstered calls for offsite interim and permanent storage, including the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, where an earthquake and tsunami resulted in electrical grid failure and damaged the power plant which resulted in the release of radioactive contaminants.
2. California adopts a moratorium on nuclear energy. After failed ballot initiative efforts, in 1976, the Legislature and Governor adopted legislation that instituted a de facto moratorium on the construction and licensing of new nuclear fission reactors until certain actions are met, including that the federal government implements a solution to radioactive waste disposal. This requirement remains in the statutes (Public Resources Code §25524.2) and in effect.
3. Federal government responsibility. Under the NWPA, the federal government has responsibility for the management and permanent disposal of spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear reactors, and generators are responsible for bearing the costs of permanent disposal. The NWPA specifically authorizes and requires the U.S. Secretary of Energy to investigate potential locations for permanent geologic repositories and an interim storage facility and to develop a system to safely transport spent fuel from nuclear power plants to the repository and interim storage facility. The law also established the Nuclear Waste Fund, which consists of fees from owners of commercial nuclear power reactors, to pay for the development of the repositories.
4. Impasse on a permanent repository. In 1987, Congress amended the NWPA to direct the DOE to focus its efforts solely on a permanent geologic repository at one site: Yucca Mountain, a complex of underground tunnels about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. The 1987 amendments also precluded DOE from developing a consolidated interim storage facility where commercial spent nuclear fuel from numerous commercial reactor sites could be collected and temporarily stored at a centralized facility designed, constructed, and operated by DOE, until the Secretary recommended to the U.S. President the approval of a site for development of a permanent repository. The state of Nevada, many of its members of Congress, and several Native American tribes with ties to the lands surrounding Yucca Mountain have strongly opposed designating Yucca Mountain as the sole site for a geologic repository.
5. Blue Ribbon Commission. In response to this opposition, the Obama Administration decided not to use the Yucca Mountain site and appointed a Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future to find a solution for permanent storage. The Blue Ribbon Commission met two dozen times between March 2010 and January 2012 and held five public meetings, in different regions of the country, to solicit feedback for its report. The Blue Ribbon Commission’s final report was released in January 2012 and includes findings, conclusions, and recommendations, including calls for a new consent-based approach to siting nuclear waste storage facilities and prompt efforts to develop permanent repository site(s) and consolidated interim storage site(s) for nuclear waste.
6. Recent efforts on interim consolidated storage. More recently, in December 2021, the DOE issued a request for information on using consent-based siting to identify sites for interim storage of spent nuclear fuel. Specifically, the DOE requested comments on the consent-based siting process, removing barriers for meaningful participation, and the role of interim storage as a part of the nation’s waste management. Based on the over 200 comments received, in September 2022, DOE identified and published six key steps, including continued development of consent-based processes and continue to implement congressional direction to pursue consolidated interim storage. Additionally, the U.S. House has established a bipartisan Spent Nuclear Fuel Solutions Caucus to address the challenges associated with stranded commercial spent fuel across the country. The passage of the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 included $27.5 million to fund federal work on consolidated interim storage. Subsequent Consolidated Appropriations Acts (2022 and 2023) have extended the availability of funding for this purpose. In April 2023, the DOE published a report, Consent-based Siting Process: Exploring the background, fundamentals, roles, and more associated with DOE’s consent-based siting process for Federal Consolidated Interim Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel, to serve as a roadmap to site one or more federal consolidated interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel. The roadmap envisions a 10-13 years process for the siting and operation of a consolidated interim storage facility, with actions in the initial phase, planning phase, already deemed completed.
7. Third time’s a charm? This resolution reflects a related sentiment to that of AJR 29 (Chavez, Chapter 112, Statutes of 2016) and SJR 23 (Bates, Chapter 76, Statutes of 2016) nearly identical joint resolutions urging the passage of the Interim Consolidated Storage Act of 2015 (and 2016, respectively) and calling on the federal government to pursue the prompt and safe relocation of spent nuclear fuel from SONGS to a consolidated interim storage site. However, this measure does not urge any specific federal legislation, and instead urges the 118^th Congress and the DOE to take action on the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission, including revisions to the NWPA to permit the relocation of the spent nuclear fuel in California and elsewhere to consolidate interim storage and ultimately permanent repository.
8. Opposition to consolidated interim storage. Several environmental organizations oppose the language in the resolution supporting development of consolidated interim storage of high-level nuclear waste. Their concerns about interim consolidated storage are multifold, specifically: (a) about the need to move nuclear waste twice (to consolidated interim, then permanent storage) resulting in increasing the risks of radioactive release during transport; (b) that the siting of proposed consolidated interim storage sites have tended to be in communities of color, raising environmental justice concerns; (c) that consolidated interim storage reduces the pressure for establishing a permanent deep geological disposal facility; and (d) that the consolidated interim storage sites could become permanent rather than interim, leaving high-level radioactive waste abandoned at above-ground storage sites never intended for long-term disposal. Supporters of this measure contend that developing a permanent repository will take many decades, and their communities can not wait until a permanent repository is constructed. They also note that federal law, under the NWPA, allows the DOE to construct one consolidated storage facility with limited capacity, but only after construction of a nuclear waste repository has been licensed. However, it’s important to note that the Blue Ribbon Commission recommended a change to federal law to allow for one or more interim storage sites independent of the schedule of the permanent repository. This recommendation is also supported by many of the supporters of this measure.
9. Inclusion of SJR 23? This resolution specifically mentions the passage of AJR 29, but does not include mention of SJR 23.

Related/Prior Legislation

AJR 29 (Chavez, Chapter 112, Statutes of 2016) urged the passage of H.R. 3643 and urges the DOE to implement the prompt and safe relocation of spent nuclear fuel from the SONGS to a licensed and regulated interim consolidated storage facility.

SJR 23 (Bates, Chapter 76, Statutes of 2016) urged Congress to pass the Interim Consolidated Storage Act of 2016 H.R. 4745 and the DOE to implement the prompt and safe relocation of spent nuclear fuel from SONGS to a licensed and regulated interim consolidated storage facility.

AJR 57 (Longville, Chapter 128, Statutes of 2000) memorialized to the President of the U.S. and Congress to take appropriate action necessary: (1) to direct the DOE not to transport shipments of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel from other states through California to the proposed Yucca Mountain repository; and (2) to create, with regards to high-radioactive waste and spent fuel originating within the state, appropriate procedures to minimize the risk of an accident and to provide emergency response assistance to local communities, particularly the County of San Bernardino.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No

SUPPORT: (Verified 8/13/24)

Association of California Cities-Orange County

Bay Area Council

California Building Industry Association

California Business Properties Association

California Business Roundtable

California Manufacturers & Technology Association

City of San Clemente
Fission Transition

Inland Empire Economic Association

Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce

Orange County Business Council

Orange County Coastkeeper
Orange County Taxpayers Association

San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce

San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Community Engagement Panel
Southern California Leadership Council
Spent Fuel Solutions

Western Electrical Contractors Association

1 Individual

OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/13/24)

Activist San Diego
California Coastal Protection Network
CleanEarth4Kids.org
Climate Resolve
Coalition for Nuclear Safety
Committee to Bridge the Gap
Ecological Options Network
Environmental Working Group
Gender & Radiation Impact Project
Live to a Healthy 100
Nuclear Hot Seat
Physicians for Social Responsibility, San Francisco Bay Area
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Los Angeles
San Clemente Green
San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace
The Samuel Lawrence Foundation
Three Mile Productions

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: Spent Fuel Solutions a coalition formed of 250 local governments, elected officials, utilities, environmental, Native American, labor and business organizations, to advocate for policy changes to secure federally licensed offsite storage and disposal solutions for spent nuclear fuel. They support the resolution citing the federal government’s failure to provide for the interim and permanent storage of nuclear waste, and concerns regarding the significant financial costs of maintaining spent fuel onsite at reactor locations, as well as, the costs to tax payers and utility customers to fund interim and permanent storage solutions that have not been developed.

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: The Environmental Working Group and Committee to Bridge the Gap, joined by other environmental organizations, express support for the main thrust of the resolution calling for a permanent repository, but they oppose language in the resolution calling for consolidated interim storage sites for high level nuclear waste. The organizations’ opposition to consolidated interim storage sites include: increased risks of radioactive release due to transferring nuclear waste multiple times and the potential to reduce the pressure to develop a permanent deep geological disposal facility which could result in leaving high-level radioactive waste abandoned at above-ground storage sites never intended for long-term disposal.

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 66-0, 8/5/24

AYES: Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Chen, Megan Dahle, Davies, Dixon, Essayli, Flora, Mike Fong, Gallagher, Garcia, Gipson, Haney, Hart, Hoover, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Lackey, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mathis, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Pacheco, Papan, Jim Patterson, Joe Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Rendon, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Santiago, Schiavo, Soria, Ta, Valencia, Villapudua, Waldron, Wallis, Ward, Weber, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Zbur, Robert Rivas

NO VOTE RECORDED: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Bonta, Connolly, Friedman, Gabriel, Grayson, Holden, Irwin, Kalra, McCarty, Ortega, Ting

Prepared by: Nidia Bautista / E., U. & C. / (916) 651-4107

8/13/24 12:59:41

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS

Senator Steven Bradford, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular

Bill No: Hearing Date: 8/13/2024

SUBJECT:

DIGEST: This measure urges the U.S. Congress to prioritize fulfilling the federal government’s legal and contractual obligation to provide a home for spent nuclear fuel currently stored at sites in California and 33 other states. Furthermore, this measure urges the U.S. Congress and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) to take action to permit the relocation of the spent nuclear fuel in California and elsewhere to consolidated interim storage and ultimately a permanent repository.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Establishes, under federal law, the U.S. Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) which :
   1. Establishes a comprehensive federal program for the safe, permanent disposal of radioactive wastes.
   2. Requires the federal government to take possession of and permanently dispose of spent nuclear fuel generated at civilian nuclear reactors.
   3. Supports the use of deep geological repositories for the safe storage and/or disposal of radioactive waste. Establishes procedures to evaluate and select sites for geologic repositories and for the interaction of state and federal governments.
   4. Directs the DOE to consider Yucca Mountain, Nevada as the primary site for the first geologic repository.
   5. Prohibits the DOE from conducting site specific activities at a second site unless authorized by the U.S. Congress.
   6. Establishes a commission to study the need and feasibility of a monitored retrievable storage facility. (U.S. Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. §10101, et seq.)
2. Prohibits any nuclear fission thermal power plant requiring the reprocessing of fuel rods from being permitted unless the federal government has identified and approved, and there exists a technology for the construction and operation of, nuclear fuel rod reprocessing plant. Prohibits any nuclear fission thermal power plant from being permitted unless the U.S. through its authorized agency has approved and there exists a demonstrated technology or means of high-level nuclear waste. (Public Resources Code §§25524.1-25524.2)
3. States that the citizens of California should be protected from exposure to radiation from nuclear facilities. (Public Utilities Code §8321, et seq.)
4. Requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to assess existing scientific studies to determine the vulnerability of very large generation facilities (1,700 megawatts (MW) or greater) to major disruptions due to aging or major earthquake and the resulting impacts on reliability, public safety, and the economy. Requires the CEC, in the absence of a long-term nuclear waste storage facility, to assess the potential state and local costs and impacts associated with accumulating waste at California’s nuclear power plants. (Public Resources Code §25303)

This measure:

1. Makes numerous findings and declarations concerning the spent nuclear fuel stored onsite at reactors in California and other states, the growth of spent nuclear fuel, the failure of the federal government to address nuclear waste, the more than a decade since the Blue Ribbon Commission issued its final report, and various costs associated with nuclear waste.
2. Urges the U.S. Congress to prioritize fulfilling the federal government’s legal and contractual obligation to provide a home for spent nuclear fuel currently stored at sites in California and 33 other states.
3. Urges the DOE to take action to permit the relocation of the spent nuclear fuel in California and elsewhere to consolidated interim storage and ultimately a permanent repository.

Background

Nuclear power in California. California was an early pioneer in nuclear energy generation. The state was home to the nation’s first civilian nuclear power plant and the first “commercial” nuclear power plant to provide electricity to the public when the Santa Susana Experimental Station in Ventura County, a joint program of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and Atomics International, came online in April 1957. The small 6.5 MW research and development facility supplied power to the neighboring City of Moorpark, within the utility service territory of Southern California Edison (SCE). In October 1957, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and General Electric Company began operating Vallecitos Nuclear Power Plant, a 30 MW power plant, the nation’s first to supply power in MW. Both facilities stopped electricity generation to the electric grid within 10 years, February 1964 and December 1967, respectively. Neither is known to be storing nuclear spent fuel on-site.

An additional four nuclear power plants were built and operated in the state, each of which is storing varying levels of spent nuclear fuel onsite: the Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant, the Rancho Seco Nuclear Power Plant, the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), and the only remaining operational nuclear plant in the state, the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.

• Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant was a 63 MW plant owned by PG&E that operated from August 1963 to July 1976 and permanently closed in 1983 due to the economics of seismic retrofits following a moderate earthquake from a previously unknown fault just off the coast.
• Rancho Seco Nuclear Power Plant, located 25 miles east of Sacramento, was a 913 MW power plant owned by Sacrament Municipal Utility District (SMUD) that operated from April 1975 to June 1989. The power plant was closed by public referendum.
• SONGs was an over 2,000 MW power plant, located in northern San Diego County, which is jointly owned by SCE (78.2 percent ownership), San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) (20 percent ownership), and the City of Riverside Utilities Department (1.8 percent ownership). The plant began operation with Unit 1 in 1968, which ended in 1992. Units 2 and 3 began operation in 1983 and 1984, respectively. A unit at the plant went offline due to tubing wear issues in January 2012, subsequently, in June 2013, plant owners announced the remaining units at the plant would be permanently retired.
• Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant is a 2,200 MW power plant that began operating in 1985, is located on the coast near San Luis Obispo and owned by PG&E. In June 2016, PG&E announced a joint proposal with some labor and environmental organizations to phase out nuclear power and retire Unit 1 in November 2024 and Unit 2 in August 2025. However, legislation, SB 846 (Dodd, Chapter 239, Statutes of 2022), has authorized a five year extension of each of the units, pending federal licensing, among other requirements.

California adopts a moratorium on nuclear energy. After failed ballot initiative efforts, in 1976, the Legislature and Governor adopted legislation that instituted a de facto moratorium on the construction and licensing of new nuclear fission reactors until certain actions are met, including that the federal government implements a solution to radioactive waste disposal. This requirement remains in the statutes (Public Resources Code §25524.2). While the law was challenged, the courts have upheld these provisions, and, as such, the de facto moratorium remains in effect.

Spent nuclear fuel. Nuclear fuel rods are ceramic pellets of uranium oxide, about the size of a finger joint, stacked and sealed inside a long metal tube about as wide as a sharpie pen. The space between the pellets and metal tube is filled with helium. “Spent fuel” refers to fuel used in a commercial nuclear reactors that has been removed because it can no longer economically sustain a nuclear reaction. Spent nuclear fuel from power plants can either be processed to recover usable uranium and plutonium, or it can be managed as a waste for ultimate long-term disposal.

Fuel processing is not commercially available in the U.S., as a result, spent fuel is typically held in temporary storage at reactor sites, often beginning in wet storage and then transferred to dry storage casks. Generally, the temporary storage may be available for decades. However, concerns about the safe storage of nuclear waste have prompted communities neighboring nuclear generating facilities to support relocation of nuclear waste and calls for interim and permanent storage. The urgency has been bolstered by natural disasters, including the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, where an earthquake and tsunami resulted in electrical grid failure and damaged the power plant. The damage led to the inability to cool reactors after a power shutdown compromised containment and resulted in the release of radioactive contaminants.

Federal government responsibility. Under the NWPA, the federal government has responsibility for the management and permanent disposal of spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear reactors, and generators are responsible for bearing the costs of permanent disposal. The NWPA specifically authorizes and requires the U.S. Secretary of Energy to investigate potential locations for permanent geologic repositories and an interim storage facility and to develop a system to safely transport spent fuel from nuclear power plants to the repository and interim storage facility. The law also established the Nuclear Waste Fund, which consists of fees from owners of commercial nuclear power reactors, to pay for the development of the repositories.

Impasse on a permanent repository. In 1987, Congress amended the NWPA to direct the DOE to focus its efforts solely on a permanent geologic repository at one site: Yucca Mountain, a complex of underground tunnels about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. The 1987 amendments also precluded DOE from developing a consolidated interim storage facility where commercial spent nuclear fuel from numerous commercial reactor sites could be collected and temporarily stored at a centralized facility designed, constructed, and operated by DOE, until the Secretary recommended to the U.S. President the approval of a site for development of a permanent repository. The state of Nevada, many of its members of Congress, and several Native American tribes with ties to the lands surrounding Yucca Mountain have strongly opposed designating Yucca Mountain as the sole site for a geologic repository. In response to this opposition, the Obama Administration decided not to use the Yucca Mountain site and appointed a Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future to find a solution for permanent storage.

The Blue Ribbon Commission met two dozen times between March 2010 and January 2012 and held five public meetings, in different regions of the country, to solicit feedback for its report. The Blue Ribbon Commission’s final report was released in January 2012 and includes findings, conclusions, and recommendations, including calls for a new consent-based approach to siting nuclear waste storage facilities and prompt efforts to develop permanent repository site(s) and consolidated interim storage site(s) for nuclear waste.

More recently, in December 2021, the DOE issued a request for information on using consent-based siting to identify sites for interim storage of spent nuclear fuel. Specifically, the DOE requested comments on the consent-based siting process, removing barriers for meaningful participation, and the role of interim storage as a part of the nation’s waste management. Based on the over 200 comments received, in September 2022, DOE identified and published six key steps, including continued development of consent-based processes and continue to implement congressional direction to pursue consolidated interim storage. Additionally, the U.S. House has established a bipartisan Spent Nuclear Fuel Solutions Caucus to address the challenges associated with stranded commercial spent fuel across the country. The passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 included $27.5 million to fund federal work on consolidated interim storage.

Third time’s a charm? AJR 18 reflects a related sentiment to that of AJR 29 (Chavez, Chapter 112, Statutes of 2016) and SJR 23 (Bates, Chapter 76, Statutes of 2016) nearly identical joint resolutions urging the passage of the Interim Consolidated Storage Act of 2015 (and 2016, respectively) and calling on the federal government to pursue the prompt and safe relocation of spent nuclear fuel from SONGS to a consolidated interim storage site. However, this measure does not urge any specific federal legislation, and instead urges the 118^th Congress and the DOE to take action on the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission, including revisions to the NWPA to permit the relocation of the spent nuclear fuel in California and elsewhere to consolidate interim storage and ultimately permanent repository.

Opposition to consolidated interim storage. Several environmental organizations oppose the language in the resolution supporting development of consolidated interim storage of high-level nuclear waste. Their concerns about consolidated interim storage sites are multifold, specifically: 1) the need to move nuclear waste twice (to consolidated interim, then permanent storage) resulting in increasing the risks of radioactive release during transport; 2) the siting of proposed consolidated interim storage sites have tended to be in communities of color, raising environmental justice concerns; 3) consolidated interim storage reduces the pressure for establishing a permanent deep geological disposal facility; and 4) the consolidated interim storage sites could become permanent rather than interim, leaving high-level radioactive waste abandoned at above-ground storage sites never intended for long-term disposal. Supporters of this measure contend that developing a permanent repository will take many decades, and their communities can not wait until a permanent repository is constructed. They also note that federal law, under the NWPA, allows the DOE to construct one consolidated storage facility with limited capacity, but only after construction of a nuclear waste repository has been licensed. However, it’s important to note that the Blue Ribbon Commission recommended a change to the law to allow for one or more interim storage sites independent of the schedule of the permanent repository. This recommendation is also supported by many of the supporters of this measure.

Inclusion of SJR 23? AJR 18 specifically mentions the passage of AJR 29, but does not include mention of SJR 23.

Prior/Related Legislation

AJR 29 (Chavez, Chapter 112, Statutes of 2016) urged the passage of H.R. 3643 and urges the DOE to implement the prompt and safe relocation of spent nuclear fuel from the SONGS to a licensed and regulated interim consolidated storage facility.

SJR 23 (Bates, Chapter 76, Statutes of 2016) urged Congress to pass the Interim Consolidated Storage Act of 2016 H.R. 4745 and the DOE to implement the prompt and safe relocation of spent nuclear fuel from SONGS to a licensed and regulated interim consolidated storage facility.

AJR 57 (Longville, Chapter 128, Statutes of 2000) memorialized to the President of the U.S. and Congress to take appropriate action necessary: (1) to direct the DOE not to transport shipments of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel from other states through California to the proposed Yucca Mountain repository; and (2) to create, with regards to high-radioactive waste and spent fuel originating within the state, appropriate procedures to minimize the risk of an accident and to provide emergency response assistance to local communities, particularly the County of San Bernardino.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: Fiscal Com.: Local:

SUPPORT:

Association of California Cities-Orange County

Bay Area Council

California Building Industry Association

California Business Properties Association

California Business Roundtable

California Manufacturers & Technology Association

City of San Clemente
Fission Transition

Inland Empire Economic Association

Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce

Orange County Business Council

Orange County Coastkeeper
Orange County Taxpayers Association

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Community Engagement Panel
Southern California Leadership Council
Spent Fuel Solutions

Western Electrical Contractors Association

An Individual

OPPOSITION:

Activist San Diego
California Coastal Protection Network
CleanEarth4Kids.org
Climate Resolve
Coalition for Nuclear Safety
Committee to Bridge the Gap
Ecological Options Network
Environmental Working Group
Gender & Radiation Impact Project
Live to a Healthy 100
Nuclear Hot Seat
Physicians for Social Responsibility, San Francisco Bay Area
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Los Angeles
San Clemente Green
San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace
The Samuel Lawrence Foundation
Three Mile Productions

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: Spent Fuel Solutions (SFS), a coalition formed of 250 local governments, elected officials, utilities, environmental, Native American, labor and business organizations, to advocate for policy changes to secure federally licensed offsite storage and disposal solutions for spent nuclear fuel, states:

The federal government has failed to fulfill its legal and contractual obligation to assume title, liability and transportation of spent nuclear fuel from plants across the U.S. as it was required to beginning in 1998. As a result, approximately 86,000 metric tons of spent fuel is now stranded at 76 nuclear power plant sites across the country. Effectively advocating for federal action will require strong demonstrations not only from coalitions like ours, but also from state governments. That is why we believe AJR 18 is critical because it will prioritize the relocating of the spent fuel from San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Sacramento and Humboldt counties, which have become de facto permanent storage sites without community consent. While these communities are the most directly impacted, the federal government’s inaction has significant financial costs that affect all Californians. Nuclear utility customers have pre-paid $46 billion toward the disposal of spent fuel, including $2 billion from California customers. U.S. taxpayers have also paid $10.6 billion in damages over the last 24 years to cover costs of on-site spent fuel storage, and these costs could eventually reach more than $30 billion. Federal action on this issue is long overdue.

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: The Environmental Working Group and Committee to Bridge the Gap, joined by other environmental organizations, express support for the main thrust of the resolution calling for a permanent repository, but they oppose language in the resolution calling on consolidated interim storage sites for high level nuclear waste. The organizations’ opposition to consolidated interim storage sites are multifold, specifically: 1) the need to move nuclear waste twice (to consolidated interim, then permanent storage) resulting in increasing the risks of radioactive release during transport; 2) the siting of proposed consolidated interim storage sites have tended to be in communities of color, raising environmental justice concerns; 3) consolidated interim storage reduces the pressure for establishing a permanent deep geological disposal facility; and 4) the consolidated interim storage sites could become permanent rather than interim, leaving high-level radioactive waste abandoned at above-ground storage sites never intended for long-term disposal.

-- END --

ASSEMBLY THIRD READING

ATR Bill Id:AJR 18

Author:(Davies)

As Introduced Ver:May 9, 2024

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Urges the Congress of the United States to prioritize fulfilling the federal government's legal and contractual obligation to provide a home for spent nuclear fuel within California and 33 other states across the nation. Furthermore, urges Congress and the United States Department of Energy to take action to permit the relocation of the spent nuclear fuel in California and elsewhere to consolidated interim storage (CIS) and ultimately a permanent repository.

Major Provisions

COMMENTS

Federal Nuclear Waste Policy. Under the provisions of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, the federal government has responsibility for managing spent nuclear fuel produced by commercial reactors, and generators and are responsible for bearing the costs of permanent disposal. The NWPA authorizes and requires the US Department of Energy (DOE) to locate and build a permanent repository and an interim storage facility and to develop a system to safely transport spent fuel from nuclear power plants to the repository and interim storage facility.

Ongoing Contention-Yucca Mountain. In 1987, Congress designated Yucca Mountain, a complex of underground tunnels in Nevada, as a federal long-term geological repository for nuclear waste. By 1998, the DOE was required to begin accepting spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants but the federal waste disposal program, designated for Nevada's Yucca Mountain, has been plagued with numerous challenges including technical and legal challenges, managerial problems, licensing delays, persistent weaknesses in quality assurance for the program, and increasing costs. Until today, the contention continues and the Federal government has proposed finding interim storage sites that could serve as a backstop while they search for another long-term site. This process is perceived to take several decades.

Nuclear Power in California. Of the four nuclear power plants developed in California by electric utilities, only one continues to operate today: Pacific Gas & Electric's (PG&E) Diablo Canyon power plant. The three other commercial nuclear power facilities, including PG&E's Humboldt Bay plant, Sacramento Municipal Utility District's Rancho Seco plant, and the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station (SONGS) owned jointly by Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, and the City of Riverside Utilities, are in various stages of decommissioning. Unfortunately, spent fuel from nuclear power plants can either be reprocessed to recover usable uranium and plutonium, or it can be managed as a waste for long-term ultimate disposal.

Since fuel reprocessing is not commercially available in the U.S., spent fuel is typically held in temporary storage at reactor sites until a permanent long-term waste disposal option becomes available. To date, the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have not found that a demonstrated technology exists for the disposal of high-level nuclear waste. As such, high-level radioactive waste from all four California nuclear power plants remains stored on site and to date, has cost U.S tax payers an estimated $10.6 billion.

According to the Author

According to the author, "Our federal government has commitment to ensure communities that have housed nuclear energy facilities do not bare long-term risks and dangers with excess fuel. Residents in California have borne this burden for far too long. Citizens in my district have been exposed to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station for far too long. This resolution merely calls upon the federal government to do its job and begin the process of finding suitable and environmental acceptable sites to store this fuel."

Arguments in Support

This resolution is supported by different groups, such as the University of California, San Diego which asserts that, "The federal government has failed to meet its legal and contractual obligation to assume title, liability and transportation of spent nuclear fuel from plants nationwide as it was required to beginning in 1998. After 25 years, we are still waiting for the spent fuel stored in San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Sacramento and Humboldt counties to be relocated offsite to a federally licensed storage or disposal facility. The federal government's failure to act has resulted in approximately 86,000 metric tons of spent fuel being stranded at 76 operating or shutdown nuclear power plant sites across the U.S."

Arguments in Opposition

A coalition of environmental organizations are opposed to the measure, largely as it relates to the CIS provisions, noting concerns ranging from:

1. Nuclear waste would be moved twice, once to the CIS site, then again to a permanent repository, dramatically increasing the risk of a radioactive release during transportation.
2. Proposed CIS sites have tended to be communities of color, raising environmental justice concerns.
3. Establishment of CIS sites would take decades and reduce the pressure for establishing a permanent deep geological disposal facility.

FISCAL COMMENTS

Unknown. This resolution is keyed non-fiscal.

VOTES

ASM UTILITIES AND ENERGY: 15-0-1

YES: Petrie-Norris, Bauer-Kahan, Calderon, Chen, Friedman, Hart, Holden, Joe Patterson, Reyes, Santiago, Schiavo, Ting, Wallis, Wood, Zbur

ABS, ABST OR NV: Jim Patterson

UPDATED

VERSION: May 9, 2024

CONSULTANT: Lina V. Malova / U. & E. / (916) 319-2083 FN: 0003697

Date of Hearing: July 1, 2024

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON UTILITIES AND ENERGY

Cottie Petrie-Norris, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AJR 18 (

Author:Davies) – As Introduced Ver:May 9, 2024

SUBJECT: Spent nuclear fuel: storage

SUMMARY: Urges the Congress of the United States to prioritize fulfilling the federal government’s legal and contractual obligation to provide a home for spent nuclear fuel within California and 33 other states across the nation. Furthermore, urges Congress and the United States Department of Energy to take action to permit the relocation of the spent nuclear fuel in California and elsewhere to consolidated interim storage and ultimately a permanent repository.

Specifically, this resolution:

1. Finds California is home to four de facto interim spent nuclear fuel storage sites: the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in the County of San Luis Obispo, the Humboldt Bay Power Plant in the County of Humboldt, the Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station in the County of Sacramento, and the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in the County of San Diego; and
2. Finds spent nuclear fuel can be safely stored at reactor sites for decades, but communities in the vicinity of these and other commercial nuclear plants never consented to the long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel; and
3. Finds twelve United States commercial nuclear power reactors have been permanently closed over the last decade and United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses for 85 of the nation’s 92 commercial nuclear reactors are scheduled to expire by 2050, stranding spent nuclear fuel and hampering efforts to restore sites for other productive uses; and
4. Finds the United States inventory of spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors now exceeds 90,000 metric tons of uranium (MTU) located at 76 sites in 34 states; and
5. Finds the amount of spent nuclear fuel is projected to increase nationwide at an average rate of approximately 1,800 MTU per year, accumulating an estimated 137,000 MTU by 2050, nearly twice the statutory limit for storing spent fuel at the only permanent disposal facility, known as a deep geologic repository, authorized to accept spent nuclear fuel in the United States; and
6. Finds the federal government has failed to meet its obligation to assume title, liability, and transportation of spent nuclear fuel now stranded in California and 33 other states as it was required to beginning in 1998, under the federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (Public Law 97-425) and by contract; and
7. Finds the a decade has passed since the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future issued its final report providing recommendations regarding siting future nuclear waste management facilities and options for waste disposal, and little progress has been made toward implementing its recommendations; and
8. Finds as of September 2020, the General Accounting Office reports that since the year 2000, all taxpayers in the United States have been forced to pay $9,000,000,000 in damages for costs incurred to store spent nuclear fuel at reactor sites, and that these costs will grow to as much as $30,600,000,000, until the federal government provides a consolidated interim storage facility or a deep geologic repository and takes custody of the spent nuclear fuel; and
9. Finds nuclear utility customers have prepaid $46,000,000,000, including interest income, into the federal Nuclear Waste Fund for the development of storage and disposal facilities, including $2,000,000,000 from California customers; and
10. Finds Assembly Joint Resolution 29 of the 2015–16 Regular Session, Relative to the Interim Consolidated Storage Act of 2015, adopted unanimously by the Assembly and the Senate, urged the passage of federal legislation to authorize interim consolidated storage and give priority for storage to high-level nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel located on a site without an operating nuclear reactor, and called upon the United States Department of Energy to implement the prompt and safe relocation of spent nuclear fuel from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station to a licensed and regulated interim consolidated storage facility; now, therefore, be it
11. This resolution resolves the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, that the Legislature of the State of California respectfully urges the Congress of the United States to prioritize fulfilling the federal government’s legal and contractual obligation to provide a home for the spent fuel within California and 33 other states across the nation; and, be it further
12. This resolution resolves that the Legislature of the State of California respectfully urges the 118th Congress and the United States Department of Energy to take action on the recommendations contained in the final report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future by developing the necessary statutory and regulatory framework, including revisions to the federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, to permit the relocation of the spent nuclear fuel in California and elsewhere to consolidated interim storage and ultimately a permanent repository; and be it further
13. This resolution resolves the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the United States Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and to the Secretary of Energy.

EXISTING LAW:

UNDER FEDERAL LAW: Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) (42 U.S.C. § 10101, et seq.):

1. Establishes procedures to evaluate and select sites for geologic repositories and for the interaction of state and federal governments.
2. Supports the use of deep geologic repositories for the safe storage and/or disposal of radioactive waste.
3. Directs the US Department of Energy (DOE) to consider Yucca Mountain as the primary site for the first geologic repository.
4. Prohibits the US DOE from conducting site specific activities at a second site unless authorized by Congress.
5. Establishes a commission to study the need and feasibility of a monitored retrievable storage facility.

UNDER STATE LAW:

1. Prohibits any nuclear fission thermal powerplant requiring the reprocessing of fuel rods from being permitted unless the federal government has identified and approved, and there exists a technology for the construction and operation of, nuclear fuel rod reprocessing plants. (Public Resources Code Sections 25524.1 to 25524.3)
2. States, pursuant to the California Nuclear Facility Decommissioning Act of 1985, that the citizens of California should be protected from exposure to radiation from nuclear facilities. (Public Utilities Code Section 8321, et seq.)
3. Requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to assess existing scientific studies to determine the vulnerability of very large generation facilities (1,700 megawatts or greater) to major disruptions due to aging or major earthquake and the resulting impacts on reliability, public safety, and the economy. Requires the CEC, in the absence of a long-term nuclear waste storage facility, assess the potential state and local costs and impacts associated with accumulating waste at California's nuclear powerplants. (Public Resources Code Section 25303)

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This resolution is keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel.

BACKGROUND:

Federal Nuclear Waste Policy. As stated in existing federal law section, under the provisions of the NWPA of 1982, the federal government has responsibility for managing spent nuclear fuel produced by commercial reactors, and generators are responsible for bearing the costs of permanent disposal. The NWPA authorizes and requires the US DOE to locate and build a permanent repository and an interim storage facility and to develop a system to safely transport spent fuel from nuclear power plants to the repository and interim storage facility.  The Act directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to license DOE to operate a repository only if it meets EPA's standards and all other relevant requirements.^[1]

In 1987, Congress designated Yucca Mountain, a complex of underground tunnels in Nevada, as a federal long-term geological repository for nuclear waste.^[2] The State of Nevada has strongly opposed the planned Yucca Mountain repository on the grounds that the site is unsafe, pointing to potential volcanic activity, earthquakes, water infiltration, underground flooding, nuclear chain reactions, and fossil fuel and mineral deposits that might encourage future human intrusion. ^[3] Furthermore, the Obama Administration decided not to use the site and instead appointed the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future (Commission) to find a solution for permanent storage. In January 2012, the Commission recommended that efforts be made to develop a permanent disposal site for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Because of the lack of a permanent repository site, nuclear waste is now being stored at commercial nuclear power plant sites.^[4] 

Nuclear Power in California. Of the four nuclear power plants developed in California by electric utilities, only one continues to operate today: Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) Diablo Canyon power plant. The three other commercial nuclear power facilities, including PG&E’s Humboldt Bay plant, Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s Rancho Seco plant, and the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station (SONGS) owned jointly by Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, and the City of Riverside Utilities, are in various stages of decommissioning. Developed in the early 1960s, Humboldt Bay was shut down in 1976 for refueling and never restarted due to seismic and cost issues.^[5] Developed in the early 1970s, Rancho Seco was shut down in 1989 in response to voter referendum.^[6] Developed in the late 1960s, SONGS was closed in 2012 for repairs and permanently retired in 2013 due to uncertainty about repair timelines.

In 1976, the Legislature enacted a moratorium on new nuclear power plants until the federal government implements a solution to radioactive waste.^[7] The moratorium was challenged by PG&E and ultimately reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court. In PG&E v. Energy Commission (1983),^[8] the Supreme Court upheld California’s moratorium law. A key basis of the Court’s decision was a division of authority to make safety determinations (federal) and economic determinations (state). The Court found that the absence of a permanent waste disposal site could lead to unknown negative economic consequences. So the moratorium has remained in effect and no new nuclear plant has been proposed in California since the Diablo Canyon and SONGS units that were in the permitting pipeline at the time the moratorium was enacted. Spent fuel from nuclear power plants can either be reprocessed to recover usable uranium and plutonium, or it can be managed as a waste for long-term ultimate disposal. Since fuel reprocessing is not commercially available in the U.S.,^[9]spent fuel is typically held in temporary storage at reactor sites until a permanent long-term waste disposal option becomes available.^[10] To date, the CEC and NRC have not found that a demonstrated technology exists for the disposal of high-level nuclear waste. As such, high-level radioactive waste from all four California nuclear power plants remains stored on site.

COMMENTS:

1. Author’s Statement. According to the author, “Our federal government has commitment to ensure communities that have housed nuclear energy facilities do not bare long-term risks and dangers with excess fuel. Residents in California have borne this burden for far too long. Citizens in my district have been exposed to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station for far too long. This resolution merely calls upon the federal government to do its job and begin the process of finding suitable and environmental acceptable sites to store this fuel.”
2. Purpose of the Resolution. The federal government was required to begin accepting spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants by 1998, but the federal waste disposal program, designated for Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, has been plagued with technical and legal challenges, managerial problems, licensing delays, persistent weaknesses in quality assurance for the program, and increasing costs.^[11] Unfortunately, nuclear waste storage has cost US taxpayers an estimated $10.6 billion to date,^[12] with indefinite future liability. That liability arises from the contracts executed by the US Department of Energy (DOE) with the operators of nuclear power plants pursuant to the NWPA. Absent more congressional action, the nuclear waste remains at decommissioned nuclear plants continues to be generated at operating plants, creating new annual storage costs that are eventually passed to the DOE via recurring litigation or settlement claims.
3. Opposition to the Resolution. This resolution authorizes the DOE to implement the prompt and safe relocation of spent nuclear fuel from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station to a licensed and regulated interim consolidated storage facility. However, several Environmental Organizations are opposed to establishing Consolidated Interim Storage (CIS) sites for high level nuclear waste based on some of the following reasons:

• Nuclear waste would have to be moved twice, once to the CIS site, then secondly to a permanent repository, and this increases the risk of accidents and radioactive release during transportation.
• Proposed CIS sites are generally among communities of color who already face environmental injustices.
• Establishment of CIS sites could take decades and may reduce the urgency for establishing a permanent deep geological disposal facility.

1. Prior Legislation

AJR 29 (Chávez) of 2016, urges the passage of H.R. 3643 and urges the US DOE to implement the prompt and safe relocation of spent nuclear fuel from the SONGS to a licensed and regulated interim consolidated storage facility. Chapter 112, Statutes of 2016.

SJR 23 (Bates, 2016) urges Congress to pass the Interim Consolidated Storage Act of 2016 (House of Representatives (H.R.) 4745) and the US DOE to implement the prompt and safe relocation of spent nuclear fuel from SONGS to a licensed and regulated interim consolidated storage facility. Status Chapter 76, Statutes of 2016.

H.R. 3643 (Conaway, 11th Congressional District, 2015) amends the NWPA of 1982 to authorize the DOE to enter into new contracts (or modify existing contracts) with the licensee of an interim consolidated storage facility in order to take title to and store in it either high-level radioactive waste or spent nuclear fuel of domestic origin. Status: The bill was not enacted.

H.R. 4745 (Mulvaney, 5th Congressional District) amends the NWPA of 1982 to authorize the Secretary of Energy to enter into contracts for the storage of certain high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel and take title to certain high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. Status: The bill was not enacted.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Association of California Cities - Orange County
California State Parks Foundation
Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce
Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce
Laborers Local 89
Orange County Business Council
Orange County Coastkeeper
Orange County Taxpayers Association
Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Its Affiliated Entities
San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians
San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station
Spent Fuel Solutions
University of California, San Diego
Vista Chamber of Commerce

Opposition

350 Sacramento
California Coastal Protection Network
Cleanearth4kids.org
Climate Resolve
Coalition for Nuclear Safety
Committee to Bridge the Gap
Ecological Options Network
Environmental Working Group
Gender & Radiation Impact Project
Live to A Healthy 100
Nuclear Hot Seat
Physicians for Social Responsibility - San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Los Angeles
Samuel Lawrence Foundation
San Clemente Green
San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace
Three Mile Productions

Analysis Prepared by: Lina V. Malova / U. & E. / (916) 319-2083

1. 42 U.S.C. §10101 et seq. (1982)

   ↑

2. USGS, Pg. 2; “Yucca Mountain as a Radiactive Waste Repository.” ↑

3. Congressional Research Service, “ Civilian Nuclear Waste Disposal”; Updated September 2018 ↑

4. Center for Strategic & International Studies, “Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future Issues a Final Report.” February 2012 ↑

5. United State Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “Humboldt Bay” https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/decommissioning/power-reactor/humboldt-bay-nuclear-power-plant-unit-3.html ↑

6. CEC Rep, “ Nuclear Reactors in California” March 2020 ↑

7. LAO, “A.G. File No. 2015-001” https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2015-001

   ↑

8. Constitutional Law, “Constitutional Law - Preemption - Upholding California's Nuclear Moratorium - Pacific Gas and Electric Co. v. State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission.” Volume 19, Issue 2, 1984 ↑

9. https://www.nrc.gov/materials/reprocessing.html ↑

10. https://www.gao.gov/nuclear-waste-disposal ↑

11. Nevada Appeal; “Yucca Mountain remains in debate over nuclear waste storage”; January 2022. ↑

12. Mile Levin, “Rep. Mike Levin Weighs in on Congressional Hearing Regarding Nuclear Waste Management in the United States. https://levin.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-mike-levin-weighs-in-on-congressional-hearing-regarding-nuclear-waste-management-in-the-united-states ↑