Dold introduces bill to compensate communities for storage of spent nuclear fuel

Bipartisan legislation introduced on Monday by U.S. Rep. Bob Dold (R-IL) would require the government to compensate communities impacted by the government’s inability to appropriately store nuclear waste.

The Stranded Nuclear Waste Accountability Act, H.R. 5632, would require the Department of Energy to provide compensation amounting to $15 per kilogram of spent nuclear fuel stored at the site of a formerly operating nuclear power plant.

Under the bill, the city of Zion, Illinois, would receive approximately $15,000 per year from the government for approximately 1,200 metric tons of spent fuel stored at the Zion Nuclear Power Plant, which operated from 1973 to 1998.

“While it was active, the Zion Nuclear Power Plant created good jobs and a solid tax base for the community, but once the plant closed, those benefits evaporated,” Dold said. “Because of the government’s failure to move ahead with a long-term storage facility for nuclear waste, Zion is being forced to store the waste on the shore of Lake Michigan, severely damaging the local economy and risking environmental disaster. Our bipartisan bill will help revitalize Zion’s economy by compensating the community for storing nuclear waste until a more permanent solution is finally implemented.”

Zion is one of 13 communities across the country that cannot redevelop a former nuclear site and does not receive compensation for spent nuclear fuel stored there.

“Forcing Zion to store nuclear waste even after our power plant closed has hurt our economy and shifted an unbearable tax burden onto the people of Zion,” Zion Mayor Al Hill said. “I thank Congressman Dold for his leadership introducing this bill to help Zion and for truly caring about our community.”

The bill would authorize the program for seven years to ensure that communities don’t become dependent on federal subsidies and that the federal government continues working toward a long-term solution.

Dold offered the bill with U.S. Reps. Joe Courtney (D-CT), Reid Ribble (R-WI) and Peter Welch (D-VT), who each represent a district with a community impacted by a closed nuclear power plant.

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1983 mandated that the federal government establish a permanent geologic storage facility for nuclear waste, and a site in Yucca Mountain, Nevada, was chosen. Due to political opposition, however, the facility remains unopened more than 30 years later.