Bill Text: TX HB2692 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relating to the regulation of radioactive waste; reducing a surcharge; reducing a fee.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-05-05 - Returned to committee [HB2692 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-HB2692-Introduced.html

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87R9377 SLB-D
By: Landgraf H.B. No. 2692

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the regulation of radioactive waste; reducing a
surcharge; reducing a fee.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
ARTICLE 1. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS
SECTION 1.01. DEFINITIONS. In this article:
(1) "Combined facility" means the Texas compact waste
disposal facility, the federal waste disposal facility, and the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act waste disposal facility in
Andrews County, Texas.
(2) "Compact" means the Texas Low-Level Radioactive
Waste Disposal Compact.
SECTION 1.02. FINDINGS. (a) Texas has entered into an
interstate compact with Vermont for the disposal of low-level
radioactive waste. The Texas Legislature passed the compact in
1993 (Chapter 460 (S.B. 1206), Acts of the 73rd Legislature,
Regular Session, 1993). The United States Congress ratified the
compact by passing the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal
Compact Consent Act, Pub. L. No. 105-236, in 1998. The compact
remains federal law today.
(b) The compact mandates that Texas, as the host state,
develop and operate a facility for the disposal of low-level
radioactive waste generated within the party states. In exchange,
party states (not including the host state) contributed $25 million
to the host state.
(c) Under the compact, the compact waste disposal facility
license holder (on behalf of Texas) has constructed a
state-of-the-art facility for the safe and secure disposal of
low-level radioactive waste. The compact waste disposal facility
site in Andrews County, Texas, was selected due to its location on
top of a ridge of 600-foot thick red bed clay in a semiarid and
sparsely inhabited area of West Texas, with annual rainfall of less
than 16 inches. The combined facility features the most
environmentally protective designs in the industry, with
below-grade disposal in lined cells that are constructed inside a
natural 600-foot formation of almost impermeable Dockum red bed
clay. No significant erosion has taken place at the site for the
past 60,000 years and there is no reason to expect significant
erosion at the site during the next 60,000 years.
(d) The combined facility is used to dispose of low-level
radioactive waste that is generated by essential components of the
Texas economy and way of life, including:
(1) Texas' world-renowned research institutions,
including its institutions of higher education, which generate
radioactive items such as lab equipment, cleaning materials,
personal protective equipment, and sample residuals;
(2) the oil and gas industry, which generates
radioactive items such as downhole logging sources and naturally
occurring radioactive material from tank bottoms, filters, and pipe
scale;
(3) the health care industry, in both rural and urban
settings, which generates radioactive items such as lab equipment,
cleaning materials, personal protective equipment, and sample
residuals;
(4) the nuclear power plants located in Glen Rose and
Bay City, Texas, which generate radioactive items used for cleanup
of reactor water such as ion exchange resins and filters, personal
protective equipment, and various equipment that becomes
radioactive and that must be replaced or repaired;
(5) the United States Department of Energy, including
its Pantex facility in Amarillo, which generates radioactive
materials from current operations such as protective equipment and
which generated radioactive items from past operations such as
building debris and contaminated soils; and
(6) the State of Texas, including the Department of
State Health Services and the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality.
(e) The compact waste disposal facility license holder and
this state have benefited, and anticipate continuing to benefit,
from operation of the existing compact waste disposal facility in
Texas.
(f) The market for radioactive waste disposal has changed
significantly since the original legislation for low-level
radioactive waste disposal in Texas was enacted, including improved
waste minimization strategies and increased competition for
radioactive waste disposal from other facilities including
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act disposal sites and municipal
landfills.
(g) For the Texas compact waste disposal facility to remain
economically viable, updates to the economic and competitive
aspects of Texas legislation are required.
ARTICLE 2. RADIOACTIVE WASTE
SECTION 2.01. Section 401.205, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subsection (a-1) to read as follows:
(a-1) In this subsection, "high-level radioactive waste"
has the meaning assigned by 42 U.S.C. Section 10101(12) and "spent
nuclear fuel" has the meaning assigned by 42 U.S.C. Section
10101(23). With the exception of on-site storage by operating
nuclear power reactors and operating nuclear test reactors located
on university campuses, a person, including the compact waste
disposal facility license holder, may not dispose of or store
high-level radioactive waste or spent nuclear fuel in this state.
SECTION 2.02. Subchapter F, Chapter 401, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Sections 401.2065 and 401.2066 to read as
follows:
Sec. 401.2065. RESERVED CAPACITY FOR PARTY STATE WASTE.
(a) The following are reserved for the exclusive use of party state
compact waste disposal in the compact waste disposal facility:
(1) the greater of:
(A) three million total cubic feet; or
(B) the required volume identified by the
commission under Section 401.208; and
(2) the greater of:
(A) two million total curies; or
(B) the required curie capacity identified by the
commission under Section 401.208.
(b) Of the reserved volume and curie capacity described by
Subsection (a):
(1) 80 percent is reserved for compact waste generated
in the host state; and
(2) 20 percent is reserved for compact waste generated
in nonhost party states.
Sec. 401.2066. CORRECTION FOR DECAY IN DETERMINING
CAPACITY. The commission shall correct for radioactive decay in
determining licensed disposal curie capacity in a compact waste
disposal facility under this subchapter.
SECTION 2.03. Sections 401.207(e-2) and (g), Health and
Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
(e-2) The commission's executive director, on completion of
the study under Section 401.208, may prohibit the license holder
from accepting any additional nonparty compact waste if the
commission determines from the study that the capacity of the
facility will be limited, regardless of whether the capacity
required [limit] under Section 401.2065 is available [Subsection
(f) has been reached].
(g) The commission shall assess a surcharge for the disposal
of nonparty compact waste at the compact waste disposal facility.
The surcharge is five [20] percent of the total contracted rate
under Section 401.2456 and must be assessed in addition to the total
contracted rate under that section.
SECTION 2.04. Subchapter F, Chapter 401, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 401.2075 to read as follows:
Sec. 401.2075. LIMITATION ON NONPARTY COMPACT WASTE. (a)
The compact waste disposal facility license holder may accept
nonparty compact waste at the facility only if:
(1) the waste is authorized by the compact commission;
and
(2) the facility has not less than three years' worth
of constructed capacity based on the average amount of party state
compact waste disposed in the compact waste disposal facility in
the preceding five years.
(b) If the compact waste disposal facility does not have
sufficient constructed capacity as described by Subsection (a), in
order to be permitted to accept nonparty compact waste, the compact
waste disposal facility license holder must:
(1) add constructed capacity sufficient to meet the
requirements of Subsection (a); or
(2) file and have approved by the commission a bond
acceptable to the commission conditioned on the construction of
additional constructed capacity sufficient to meet the
requirements of Subsection (a).
(c) If a utility operating a nuclear electric generation
facility in a party state has notified the federal commission that
the facility will be decommissioned, and the time-phased
decommissioning schedule and the Post-Shutdown Decommissioning
Activities Report indicate that low-level radioactive waste is to
be disposed of at the compact waste disposal facility, the compact
waste disposal facility license holder must have constructed
adequate disposal capacity at the time of the disposal of waste from
the decommissioning.
(d) The compact waste disposal facility license holder must
obtain an amendment to the facility operating license to increase
the allowable curie capacity by two million curies when the compact
waste disposal facility has reached 80 percent of the total curies
for which the facility is licensed.
SECTION 2.05. Section 401.215, Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 401.215. ACCEPTANCE OF LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE.
Except as otherwise provided by this subchapter [Subject to
limitations provided by Sections 401.207 and 401.248], the compact
waste disposal facility shall accept for disposal all compact waste
that is presented to it and that is properly processed and packaged.
SECTION 2.06. Section 401.2445, Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 401.2445. STATE FEE. The compact waste disposal
facility license holder each quarter shall transfer to the state
general revenue fund five percent of the gross receipts from[:
[(1) compact waste received at the compact waste
disposal facility; and
[(2)] any federal facility waste received at a federal
facility waste disposal facility licensed under Section 401.216.
SECTION 2.07. Section 401.2456(b), Health and Safety Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(b) Rates and contract terms negotiated under this section
are subject to periodic review [and approval] by the commission's
executive director to ensure that the compact waste facility
license holder's contracted rates and terms do not have a
long-term, adverse effect on the cumulative surcharges paid to the
host state and the host county [they meet all of the requirements of
this section].
SECTION 2.08. Subchapter F, Chapter 401, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 401.2465 to read as follows:
Sec. 401.2465. WASTE DISPOSAL FEE COMPARISON. (a) The
compact waste disposal facility license holder shall conduct an
annual comparison of party state and nonparty state compact waste
disposal fees. The comparison must include:
(1) an average party state disposal fee calculated by
dividing the total invoiced party state compact waste disposal fees
by the total volume of party state compact waste disposed; and
(2) an average nonparty state disposal fee calculated
by dividing the total invoiced nonparty state compact waste
disposal fees by the total volume of nonparty state compact waste
disposed.
(b) If the average party state disposal fee exceeds the
average nonparty state disposal fee, the compact waste disposal
facility license holder must issue a rebate for the preceding
year's fees to the party state generators in an amount sufficient to
reduce the average party state disposal fee after the rebate to $1
less than the average nonparty state disposal fee.
(c) The compact waste disposal facility license holder
shall allocate the rebate issued under Subsection (b) according to
the fractional amount of the total compact waste disposal fees paid
by each generator based on the compact waste disposal facility
license holder's records for the preceding year.
(d) Not more often than once per year, on written request of
a utility operating a nuclear electric generation facility in a
party state, the compact waste disposal facility license holder
shall:
(1) retain an independent auditor, who must be
approved by the compact waste disposal facility license holder and
the utility making the request, to evaluate the computation of the
average compact waste disposal fee and rebate described by this
section; and
(2) not later than the 30th day after the date the
license holder receives the final audit report, make a copy of the
report available to the requesting utility, the governor, the
lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of representatives,
and each standing committee of the legislature with jurisdiction
over environmental matters.
SECTION 2.09. The following provisions of the Health and
Safety Code are repealed:
(1) Sections 401.207(d-1), (d-2), (d-3), (e), (e-1),
(f), and (h-1); and
(2) Sections 401.2456(c), (d), and (e).
ARTICLE 3. EFFECTIVE DATE
SECTION 3.01. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.