SENATE DOCKET, NO. 2009        FILED ON: 1/20/2017

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1836

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Julian Cyr

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to responsible emergency planning at nuclear power plants.

_______________

PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 2009        FILED ON: 1/20/2017

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1836

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninetieth General Court
(2017-2018)

_______________

An Act relative to responsible emergency planning at nuclear power plants.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

Section 5K of chapter 111 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking subpart (E) and replacing with the following:

(E) The department is hereby authorized to make assessments against the owners or operators of each existing and proposed nuclear power plant in the commonwealth, or sufficiently near the commonwealth that it could pose potential health risks to the commonwealth's residents in the event of an incident, in an amount equal to the costs incurred in the prior fiscal year by the department's radiation control program in the performance of its duties under this section. Such assessments may be made against active facilities, or inactive facilities that harbor by-product material, special nuclear material, nuclear fuel, spent nuclear fuel, or other nuclear material in a spent fuel pool or other storage structure. The department is hereby further authorized to make a collection, based on that assessment, of monies from said owners or operators of nuclear power plants to defray the cost of such activities. For active facilities, said amount shall not exceed $180,000 per annum, per facility; for inactive facilities that harbor by-product material, spent nuclear material, nuclear fuel, spent nuclear fuel, or other nuclear material in a spent fuel pool or other storage structure, said amount shall not exceed $250,000 per annum, per facility. The collection may be expended for any active or inactive facility described above, including, but not be limited to,  facilities located in the town of Rowe and in the town of Plymouth, and in Seabrook, New Hampshire. The department shall send notice of its assessment to the individual company against which the assessment is made, and said company shall pay such assessment within 30 days of the notice of the assessment; provided, however, that such company shall have a reasonable opportunity to submit objections concerning said assessment to the department for review. If, after completion of such review, the department determines the assessment is valid, the department shall issue a demand for such assessment, and the company against which such assessment is made shall pay such assessment immediately. If a company subject to assessment under this section fails to pay the assessment within 30 days of the notice of the assessment, or fails to pay the demand for assessment upon completion of the final review, whichever occurs later, the department may refer such matter to the department of revenue for the collection of the assessment in accordance with applicable enforcement provisions pursuant to chapter 62C. The amount so collected shall be deposited into the General Fund and credited to the department.