Bill Text: AZ SCM1004 | 2012 | Fiftieth Legislature 2nd Regular | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Recycling spent nuclear fuel; management

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 5-0)

Status: (Passed) 2012-05-01 - Transmitted to Secretary Of State [SCM1004 Detail]

Download: Arizona-2012-SCM1004-Enrolled.html

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Senate Engrossed

 

 

 

 

State of Arizona

Senate

Fiftieth Legislature

Second Regular Session

2012

 

 

SENATE CONCURRENT MEMORIAL 1004

 

 

 

A CONCURRENT MEMORIAL

 

Urging the United States Congress to enact modifications recommended by the blue ribbon commission that will provide for the safe disposal of spent nuclear materials.

 

 

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

 

To the Congress of the United States of America:

Your memorialist respectfully represents:

Whereas, Arizona has a long history and interest in the recycling and enrichment of spent nuclear fuel, as well as the temporary and permanent storage of spent nuclear fuel; and

Whereas, Arizona proposes to establish a Blue Ribbon Commission for the state's nuclear future analogous to the federal Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future; and

Whereas, Arizona proposes to create a "State Corp" to interface with the United States government's "Fedcorp"; and

Whereas, Arizona proposes to establish a Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee to complement Arizona's State Corp; and

Whereas, Arizona sees the following benefits to its citizens by partnering with the federal government and private sector in developing spent nuclear fuel reprocessing and retrieval storage sites:

·                     $20 billion federal investment to build recycling and retrievable storage facilities.

·                     Development of 18,000 construction jobs over 10 years.

·                     Development of 5,000 direct postconstruction jobs and 30,000 indirect postconstruction jobs.

·                     Annual infusion of $500 million to the host community.

·                     Establishment of the Arizona Energy Education Fund.

·                     Annual infusion of $100 million to the education fund for K-12 and higher education.

·                     Rejuvenation of education in Arizona, particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Whereas, the United States has traveled nearly twenty-five years down the current path only to come to a point where continuing to rely on the same approach seems destined to bring further controversy, litigation and protracted delay; and

Whereas, as evidence of America's inability to follow through on the storage question, over 60,000 metric tons of nuclear waste are in temporary storage at 131 military and civilian sites around the country; and

Whereas, Congress established a policy for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 and subsequent amendments (Act), which authorized the disposal of used nuclear fuel in an appropriately characterized geologic repository; and

Whereas, the United States Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have abandoned the development of Yucca Mountain in Nevada, thereby limiting the options for used fuel disposal for those entities that have paid into the Nuclear Waste Fund for decades and that are managing their existing inventories of spent nuclear fuel; and

Whereas, nuclear electric generating facilities and other related industries have few options for the management of spent nuclear fuel since the federal government abandoned Yucca Mountain, while the inventory of spent fuel grows by 2,000 tons annually; and

Whereas, the United States energy requirements and policy on spent nuclear fuel have reached critical stages, and legislation that will allow for the recycling, enrichment and storage of spent nuclear fuel will offer opportunities for the State of Arizona to be part of the process for developing national and local policies on the recycling of spent nuclear fuel, in conjunction with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the United States Department of Energy or any successor entity; and

Whereas, the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future has adopted guidelines on a consent-based approach to siting nuclear waste management facilities, the transfer of spent nuclear fuel from reactor to reprocessing facility, the temporary storage of spent fuel based on age, spent nuclear fuel recycling, the storage and Monitored Retrieval Storage (MRS) system and deep geological repositories and the sale of nuclear fuel to nuclear energy providers; and

Whereas, the State of Arizona has an interest in the economic benefits of exploring the development of recycling spent nuclear fuel technologies and the safe treatment and disposal of nuclear materials, along with supporting the national security benefits from the proposed changes to the act; and

Whereas, the State of Arizona has completed preliminary planning analogous to the Blue Ribbon Commission guidelines; and

Whereas, Arizona offers multiple sites that offer remoteness, deep geologic storage and existing transportation infrastructure; and

Whereas, the State of Arizona proposes the creation of the Arizona  Energy Education Fund to be funded by a premium on spent nuclear fuel recycling, enrichment, temporary and permanent storage to act as a countercyclical revenue stream to offset the normal cycle of economic boom and bust; and

Whereas, nuclear energy has the smallest environmental impact of any electricity source that emits no greenhouse gases.  A wind farm would need 235 square miles to produce the same amount of electricity as a 1,000‑megawatt nuclear power plant but the nuclear plant would need less than one percent of that area.  Further, one nuclear fuel pellet, one-quarter inch in diameter and one-half inch long, provides as much as 149 gallons of oil or one ton of coal or 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas.  America's 104 civilian nuclear power reactors provide clean-air electricity for one in five homes and business, and five fuel pellets can meet a household's electricity needs for an entire year; and

Whereas, becoming a center for spent fuel reprocessing and MRS facilities necessarily becomes an economic multiplier through expanded nuclear research, production of medical isotopes and an expanded employment base in nuclear-related industries from construction to deconstruction, from technicians to scientists and engineers, and the collateral positions that support and service employment growth.

Wherefore your memorialist, the Senate of the State of Arizona, the House of Representatives concurring, prays:

1.  That the United States Congress recognize that modification to the Act to allow access to funds from the Nuclear Waste Fund to be used for the establishment of a new management enterprise with broad responsibility for the management of spent nuclear fuel, allow for the recycling and enrichment of spent nuclear fuel, provide for the protection of nuclear materials to prevent proliferation of nuclear materials, and provide for the safe disposal of nuclear materials is in the interest of national security and will promote the economic opportunity and security of the State of Arizona.

2.  That the Secretary of State of the State of Arizona transmit copies of this Memorial to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and each Member of Congress from the State of Arizona.

 

 

 

 

PASSED BY THE HOUSE APRIL 24, 2012.

 

PASSED BY THE SENATE FEBRUARY 16, 2012.

 

FILED IN THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE MAY 1, 2012.