Amendment #638 to H3600

Responsible Emergency Planning

Ms. Peake of Provincetown moves to amend the bill by adding the following new sections:

"SECTION XX.  Section 2B of chapter 639 of the acts of 1950 is hereby amended by striking the first paragraph and inserting the following:-

The director shall designate certain areas of the commonwealth as “nuclear power plant areas.”  For the purposes of this section, said areas shall consist of all communities located within a ten mile radius of a nuclear power plant or inactive nuclear power plant 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, whether or not said power plant is located within the commonwealth.

SECTION XX. Section 5K of chapter 111 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking subpart (E) and inserting in place thereof 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.".