CAPE DOWNWINDERS
From California to New Mexico to Vermont and beyond, we are all connected in our efforts to protect our communities from the ongoing dangers from nuclear power production, decommissioning, and nuclear waste
~Diane Turco, Director
Protecting the Commonwealth's economic interests
establishes a fee on spent nuclear fuel stored in pools. Senator Daniel Wolf, sponsor
requires any Massachusetts commercial nuclear reactor to pay an annual $25,000,000 post-closure funding fee into a trust fund at the State Treasurer to assure sufficient money for cleanup. Senator Daniel Wolf, sponsor
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S. 1797/1798 - State Authority
Federal law limits the extent to which states can regulate nuclear power. It preempts state and local laws that seek to regulate radiological health & safety aspects, except where Congress has granted states authority to perform environmental assessments and set standards under the Clean Air and Clean Water Act, or when state law is based on economics. The rationale for these bills is economic. These bills are not preempted, as explained in the Attachment.
The purpose of this Act is to protect economic interests of the Commonwealth by giving nuclear power plant owners a strong incentive to reduce the spent nuclear fuel assemblies in their spent fuel pool(s), and thus concomitantly reduce the economic consequences if there were a spent fuel pool fire at Pilgrim.
S. 1797/1798 - State Authority
Federal law limits the extent to which states can regulate nuclear power. It preempts state and local laws that seek to regulate radiological health & safety aspects, except where Congress has granted states authority to perform environmental assessments and set standards under the Clean Air and Clean Water Act, or when state law is based on economics. The rationale for these bills is economic. These bills are not preempted, as explained in the Attachment.
The purpose of this Act is to insure that Pilgrim or any commercial nuclear power reactor in the Commonwealth will be properly decommissioned, in a timely manner, and that money deposited by the owner into the Commonwealth’s trust fund - not Massachusetts tax-payers - will pay for the decommissioning that the Act requires.