2025
STATE OF WYOMING
25LSO-02531HB0016
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0016
Used nuclear fuel storage-amendments.
Sponsored by: Joint Minerals, Business & Economic
Development Interim Committee
A BILL
for
1 AN ACT relating to environmental quality; establishing
2 requirements and standards for the storage of used nuclear
3 fuel; amending siting requirements for used nuclear fuel
4 storage facilities; providing definitions; making
5 conforming amendments; repealing obsolete provisions;
6 requiring rulemaking; and providing for effective dates.
7
8
9
10. W.S. 35-11-2201 and 35-11-2202 are created
11 to read:
12
13 ARTICLE 22
14 USED NUCLEAR FUEL STORAGE
15 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-02532HB00161
2
3 (a) As used in this article:
4
5 (i) "Consolidated interim storage facility"
6 means a facility that stores used nuclear fuel that is
7 reviewed for and receives any required specific licenses
8 from the United States nuclear regulatory commission under
9 title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 72;
10
11 (ii) "Dry cask storage" means the storage of
12 used nuclear fuel that has been cooled utilizing
13 containers, including any components and systems associated
14 with the containers, that use a realistic security, seismic
15 and flooding design basis for the storage of used nuclear
16 fuel;
17
18 (iii) "Independent used fuel storage
19 installation" means an independent spent fuel storage
20 installation as defined by title 10 of the Code of Federal
21 Regulations, part 72, section 3;
22 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-02533HB00161 (iv) "Installation" means an independent used
2 fuel storage installation and a consolidated interim
3 storage facility;
4
5 (v) "Used nuclear fuel" means fuel that has been
6 withdrawn from a nuclear reactor following irradiation, the
7 constituent elements of which have not been separated by
8 reprocessing. "Used nuclear fuel" includes the special
9 nuclear material, byproduct material, source material and
10 other radioactive materials associated with fuel
11 assemblies.
12
13
14
15
16 (a) Any person undertaking the siting of an
17 installation shall do so in accordance with this article.
18
19 (b) Any person undertaking the siting of any
20 installation governed by this article shall submit an
21 application to the department before commencing
22 construction of the installation. The application shall
23 include: 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-02534HB00161
2 (i) A copy of any application and other
3 materials submitted to the United States nuclear regulatory
4 commission;
5
6 (ii) A copy of any license granted to the
7 applicant for the installation from the United States
8 nuclear regulatory commission;
9
10 (iii) An acknowledgment in writing that the
11 installation will be temporary and will use dry cask
12 storage for the storage of only used nuclear fuel that
13 originates from a nuclear facility in the United States;
14
15 (iv) To the extent that the following
16 information is not submitted to the department under
17 paragraphs (i) or (ii) of this subsection, the following
18 information:
19
20 (A) The criteria upon which the proposed
21 installation site was chosen, and information showing how
22 the site meets the criteria of the nuclear regulatory
23 commission and the department; 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-02535HB00161
2 (B) The technical feasibility of the
3 proposed storage equipment and technology;
4
5 (C) The environmental, social and economic
6 impact of the installation in the area of study;
7
8 (D) Conformance with the federal guidelines
9 for an installation.
10
11 (c) Upon receiving an application and the information
12 required under subsection (b) of this section, the
13 department, through the director, shall approve the
14 application for an installation:
15
16 (i) Upon satisfactory proof to the department
17 that the applicant has obtained a license for an
18 installation from the United States nuclear regulatory
19 commission and is otherwise in compliance with this
20 article;
21
22 (ii) That uses dry cask storage; and
23 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-02536HB00161 (iii) That is temporary. The department shall
2 receive substantial assurances from the applicant that the
3 installation is temporary, including a license that is
4 time-limited from the United States nuclear regulatory
5 commission or other substantial assurances options
6 including a time frame for the movement of the used nuclear
7 fuel to be stored from the installation to a permanent
8 repository, delivery of the used nuclear fuel for
9 reprocessing or to a purchaser of used nuclear fuel for
10 reprocessing.
11
12 (d) Installations approved under this article are
13 exempt from the jurisdiction of the Industrial Development
14 Information and Siting Act.
15
16 (e) Not less than thirty (30) days before a person
17 commences construction on an installation, the person shall
18 submit a report to the department that includes:
19
20 (i) The number of jobs that will be created in
21 the planning, licensing, site analysis, preparation,
22 purchasing, construction, transportation, operation and 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-02537HB0016
1 decommissioning of the installation and what number of
2 those jobs would be filled by Wyoming residents;
3
4 (ii) Local and state taxes that are estimated to
5 be generated by all aspects of the construction, operation
6 and decommissioning of the installation;
7
8 (iii) All benefits and impacts that will accrue
9 to the state and local community where the installation
10 will be located, including benefits from job training,
11 education, communications systems, monitoring and security
12 systems.
13
14 (f) The operator of each installation shall send to
15 the department copies of all publicly available reports,
16 notifications and violations sent to or from the United
17 States nuclear regulatory commission or the operator of the
18 installation as soon as practicable but not later than five
19 (5) days after the operator sends or receives the report.
20 The operator shall also transmit all information required
21 under this subsection to emergency management departments
22 of the local governments where the installation is located 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-02538HB0016
1 and shall make the information available on a public
2 website.
3
4 (g) Upon receipt of an application under this
5 article, the director shall, as soon as possible, apply for
6 any funds that may be available to the state from the
7 federal interim storage fund, the federal nuclear waste
8 fund and any other funds that are or may become available
9 to the state under any federal or state program. Nothing in
10 this subsection shall be construed to authorize the siting,
11 construction or operation of any installation not otherwise
12 authorized under this article.
13
14 (h) Any used nuclear fuel in storage at an
15 installation shall remain the property of the generator of
16 the used nuclear fuel or the civilian nuclear power reactor
17 owner, until the used nuclear fuel is transferred to
18 permanent storage or until the United States or a federal
19 agency takes title to the used nuclear fuel under the
20 federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act or other applicable
21 federal law.
22 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-02539HB00161 (j) This article shall be construed to avoid
2 duplication and to avoid interference with any of the
3 requirements of the United States nuclear regulatory
4 commission. Nothing in this article shall be deemed to
5 affect the authority of the United States nuclear
6 regulatory commission.
7
8
9 through (iii), 35-11-1506(c)(intro), (iv), (x) through
10 (xii) and (e)(i)(A) and 35-11-2101(b) and (d)(iv) are
11 amended to read:
12
13
14
15 (a) For the purpose of this act, unless the context
16 otherwise requires:
17
18 (xiii) "This act" means W.S. 35-11-101 through
19 35-11-403, 35-11-405, 35-11-406, 35-11-408 through
20 35-11-1106, 35-11-1414 through 35-11-1432, 35-11-1601
21 through 35-11-1613, 35-11-1701, 35-11-1801 through
22 35-11-1803, 35-11-2001 through 35-11-2004, ,
23 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-025310HB00161
2
3
4 (a) As used in this article:
5
6 (i) "High-level radioactive waste" means as
7 defined in the "Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982" as
8 amended, 42 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.
9
10;
11
12 (ii) "High-level radioactive waste storage"
13 means the emplacement of high-level radioactive waste,
14
15 waste or fuel
16
17 (iii) "High-level radioactive waste storage
18 facility" includes any facility for high-level radioactive
19 waste storage, other than a permanent repository operated
20 by a federal agency pursuant to the Nuclear Waste Policy
21 Act of 1982, as amended. "High-level radioactive waste
22 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-025311HB0016
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8 (c) With permission of the governor and the
9 management council, an applicant for
10 retrievable storage facility
11
12 nonbinding feasibility agreement and study with the
13 director which shall be submitted to and reviewed by the
14 director, governor and the management council. The public
15 shall be afforded a thirty (30) day public comment
16 opportunity to review the feasibility agreement prior to
17 its submission to the governor and the management council.
18 The purposes of this feasibility agreement and study are to
19 allow the state to make a preliminary determination,
20 whether, on the basis of the feasibility agreement and
21 study, the proposed benefits substantially outweigh any
22 adverse effects and to allow an applicant based on the
23 state's preliminary review of any proposed benefit to 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-025312HB0016
1 determine whether or not a prudent investor, planner,
2 builder and operator would decide to proceed with an
3 application. Upon entering into a feasibility agreement,
4 the applicant shall pay to the state a fee of eighty
5 thousand dollars ($80,000.00). Effective July 1, 2018, and
6 annually thereafter, the fee shall be adjusted for
7 inflation by the department using the consumer price index
8 or its successor index of the United States department of
9 labor, bureau of labor statistics, for the calendar year
10 immediately preceding the date of adjustment. The fee shall
11 be used by the department for costs attendant to the
12 preliminary agreement. Excess funds collected may be used
13 by the department to review an application submitted under
14 W.S. 35-11-1502. Appropriate time shall be afforded the
15 director, the governor, the management council and the
16 applicant to prepare and to evaluate the preliminary
17 agreement and study, but neither the state nor the
18 applicant shall unnecessarily delay the feasibility
19 agreement and study. The preliminary feasibility agreement
20 and study shall not supersede nor replace other
21 requirements under this act. This agreement and study shall
22 set forth the following:
23 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-025313HB00161 (iv) The preliminary design plan and technical
2 feasibility of the planned temporary
3 storage facility;
4
5 (x) Substantial assurances that the facility is
6 temporary, including options for that assurance including a
7 time frame for the movement of the temporarily stored
8 to a permanent
9 repository, delivery of the
10 to reprocessing centers or to a
11 purchaser, domestic or foreign, buying the for
12 future reprocessing;
13
14 (xi) A range of benefits the nearby communities
15 and the state might expect in return for temporarily
16 storing the
17 best estimate of when the benefits might begin to be
18 received by the nearby communities and state;
19
20 (xii) A mutual review, by the state and
21 applicant, of a range of taxes the state might reasonably
22 impose on the facility and the
23 while 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-025314HB0016
1 including the annual acceptance taxes to be levied,
2 kilograms of
3 stored at the Wyoming
4 facility;
5
6 (e) The legislature hereby authorizes the siting of
7 temporary high-level radioactive waste storage facilities
8 within this state subject to the following:
9
10 (i) A facility is authorized if:
11
12 (A) It is operated on the site of and to
13 store the high-level radioactive waste
14
15 operating within the state;
16
17
18
19 (b) Any person operating an advanced nuclear reactor
20 in the state of Wyoming in accordance with this section
21 shall not store nuclear fuel or high-level
22 radioactive waste from the advanced nuclear reactor on the
23 site of the advanced nuclear reactor without first meeting 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-025315HB0016
1 all of the requirements of the United States Nuclear
2 Regulatory Commission.
3
4 (d) As used in this section:
5
6 (iv) "Spent nuclear fuel" means as defined
7 in W.S. 35-11-1501(a)(iv) .
8
9W.S. 35-11-1501(a)(iv) is repealed.
10
11The environmental quality council, upon
12 recommendation from the department of environmental
13 quality, shall promulgate all rules necessary to implement
14 this act.
15 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-025316HB00161
2
3 (a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this
4 section, this act is effective July 1, 2025.
5
6 (b) Sections 4 and 5 of this act are effective
7 immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a
8 bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of
9 the Wyoming Constitution.
10
11 (END)