BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AJR
29 (Chávez)
As Amended March 31, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Environmental |7-0 |Alejo, Dahle, Beth | |
|Safety | |Gaines, Gray, Lopez, | |
| | |McCarty, Ting | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Urges the passage of the Interim Consolidated Storage
Act of 2015 (House Resolution (H.R.) 3643), and urges the United
States Department of Energy (US 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.
FISCAL
EFFECT: None
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COMMENTS:
Federal Nuclear Waste Policy: Under the provisions of the
Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA), the federal government has the
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.
In 1987, Congress designated Yucca Mountain, a complex of
underground tunnels in Nevada, as a federal long-term geological
repository for nuclear waste. However, the Obama Administration
has decided not to use the site and has appointed a Blue Ribbon
Commission on America's Nuclear Future (Commission) to find a
solution for permanent storage. The Commission recommended that
efforts be made to develop a permanent disposal site for spent
nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.
Without a centralized repository for spent nuclear fuel, nuclear
rods are exponentially accumulating at reactor sites across the
country. In 2009, the United States had more than 60,000 tons
of nuclear waste at more than 100 temporary sites (primarily
nuclear power plants) around the country. Plant owners thus
continue to be responsible for the safe storage of their spent
fuel.
Nuclear power in California: There are four nuclear power
plants in California, three of which have been closed or
decommissioned, including the Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant,
the Rancho Seco Nuclear Power Plant, and the San Onofre Nuclear
Generating Station (SONGS).
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The remaining operating nuclear power plant in California is
Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County. Diablo
Canyon had approximately 1,126 tons of spent fuel located at its
facility.
Natural disaster: According to the 2007 State Working Group on
Earthquake Probabilities, California faces a 99.7% chance of a
magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquake during the next 30 years.
The likelihood of an even more powerful quake of magnitude 7.5
or greater in the next 30 years is 46%.
Diablo Canyon is designed to withstand a magnitude 7.5
earthquake. The Hosgri Fault is 50 miles west of the plant and
is believed to have a maximum magnitude of 7.1. The San Andreas
Fault is east of the plant and has had magnitude 7.8 quakes in
the past. In 2008, however, the United State Geological Survey
located a new active fault, the "Shoreline" fault, within 1800
feet of the Diablo Canyon.
SONGS is designed to withstand a magnitude 7.0 earthquake.
SONGS is located five miles away from the Rose Canyon fault,
which has the potential to reach a magnitude 6.9 to 7.2
earthquake.
In March 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast
of Japan created a tsunami and ultimately lead to a nuclear
meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant as a
result of serious damage to the plant's cooling systems. It is
the largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl disaster of
1986 and the second disaster (after Chernobyl) to be given the
Level 7 event classification of the International Nuclear Event
Scale. Coincidentally or not, this resolution is being heard on
the heels of the five-year anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear disaster.
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Interim Consolidated Storage Act of 2015: H.R. 3643, also known
as the "Interim Consolidated Storage Act of 2015", would amend
the NWPA of 1982 to authorize the secretary of the US DOE to
enter into contracts for the storage of certain high-level
radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, take title to the
material, and use interest from the Nuclear Waste Fund to move
forward with interim storage sites.
H.R. 3643 allows nuclear waste from SONGS to be temporarily
stored off-site. If the bill passes, waste could be moved
off-site within a few years, when it is cool enough for
transport. A proposed interim storage site northeast of El
Paso, Texas, has been identified as a potential home for SONGS's
nuclear waste.
It has bipartisan co-sponsorship, including California
Representatives Darrell Issa (R - San Diego), Jared Huffman (D -
Marin), Ami Bera (D - Rancho Cordova), Duncan Hunter, (R - San
Diego ), Scott Peters (D - San Diego), Ken Calvert (R - Inland
Empire), and Doris Matsui (D - Sacramento).
Analysis Prepared by:
Paige Brokaw / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965 FN:
0002678
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