Bill > S1797

This bill establishes an annual fee of $10,000 for each nuclear fuel assembly, which are structured groups of metal tubes containing fissionable material used to fuel nuclear reactors, that is stored in a spent fuel pool, defined as any structure where spent nuclear fuel is kept under water after removal from a reactor, at any point during a calendar year, with the fee being assessed on the owners of nuclear power stations, which are commercial facilities that use or used nuclear fuel to generate electricity. Commercial nuclear power stations that have been completely decommissioned, meaning closed and decontaminated to allow for unrestricted use, before January 1, 2016, are exempt from this fee. The collected fees will be allocated annually by the state treasurer, with 30% going to the general operations budget of the town or city where the nuclear power station is located, 50% to be evenly divided among towns and cities within a 20-mile radius of the station (with a specific list of towns designated for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station), and 20% to the division of green communities to fund its program, with provisions for reallocation if this funding exceeds $10 million annually. Additionally, this bill amends existing law to include amounts from these spent nuclear fuel storage fees as a source of funding for the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust Fund and sets an effective date of January 1, 2016.