ML19225C557
| ML19225C557 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 06/06/1979 |
| From: | Hendrie J NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| To: | Randolph J SENATE |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7908010047 | |
| Download: ML19225C557 (8) | |
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UNITED STATES
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COr." MISSION 4 Q,-dtL 5 4
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June 6, 1979 CH AI R M A N The Honorable Jennings Randolph United States Senate Washington, D.C.
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Dear Senator Randolph:
The Nuclear Regulatory Conmission would like to request your support for legislation to resolve questions arising from the effective date provisions of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 enacted by the last Congress.
The Commission received the letter dated April 26, 1979, signed by you and tne other principal authors of this legislation in both the Senate and House of Representatives, which expressed the intent of the drafters regarding the date on which licensing authority and procedural requirements under the Act would become effective with respect to the Commission and affected State governments.
Your letter supports the position that existing authority of Agreement States to license uranium mills and to control mill tailings should not be disrupted during the three-year interim period following enactment and that during this period the NRC should not be required to exert curcurrent licensing authority over tailings produced in milling activities regulated by the Agreement St.ltes.
The Commission is mindful of and sympathetic with these views.
Nonetheless, after a careful analysis of the language of the 1978 Act, a majority of Com-missioners have concluded that without amendments to the Act the NRC is required to license tailings at Agreement State-regulated uranium mills during the three-year period before the Act permits renegotiated agreements to become effective.
Pursuant to this decision as to the meaning of the Act, implementing regulations and associated arrangements are now being prepared.
Enclosed with this letter is a draft of statutory language and a section-by-section analysis which would accomplish the intent of the principal authors of the legislation, as expressed in the April 26, 1979 letter. All Commissioners agree that such clarifying language is desirable.
Some additional clarification which the Commission believes necessary are also included and are described in the section-by-:ection analysis.
The Commission believes that prompt enactment of this legislation is necessary to assure that the intent expressed by the authors of the Act may be carried out during the remainder of the three-year interim period.
'Si n cerely,
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70Teph M. Hendrie
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Draft legislation
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2 Analysis 79080100%l
AN ACT To add clarifying amendments to the Uraniu F.ill Tailings Radiation Ocntrol Act of 1978, and for other purposes:
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Concress assembled, SEC. 1.
Section 204(h) of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end thereof a new parag aph to read as follows:
"(3).
Notwith' standing any other provision of tMn title, where a State assumes or has assumed, pu suant to an agree-nent entered into under section 274b of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, authority over any activity which results in the production of byproduct material as defined in section lle. (2) of that Act,, the Commission shall not, until the date three years after the date of enactnent of this Act, have licensing authority over such byproduct material produced in any activity covered by such agreement, unless the agreenent is terninated.
If, upon expiration of the three-year interim, a State has not entered into such an agreement with respect to byproduct material as defined in section 11e.(2) of the Atonic Energy Act of 1954, the Co
'ssion shall have authority over such byproduct material."
SEC. 2.
Section 204(h)(1) of the Uraniu-Mill Tailings Radiation Centrcl Act is amended to read:
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2 "Sec. 204(h)(1).
On or before the date th ee years after the date of enactment of this Act, notwithstanding any pro-.
vision of this title, any State may exercise any authority under State law (including authordty exercised pursuant to an agreement entered into pursuant to Se, ~ lon 274 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended) respecting (a) by-product material, as defined in section lle. (2) of the Ato ic Energy Act of 1954, or (b) any activity which results in the production of byprc 2uct material as so defined, in the sane manner and to the same extent as permitted before the enactment of this Act; provided, however, that n_othing in this section shall be construed to preclude the Commission or the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from taking such act. ion under section 275 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 as may be necessary to implement title'I of this Act."
SEO. 3.
The last sentence of section 83a of the Atoric Energy Act of 1954 is amended to read:
"Any license in effect on the e.ffective date of this section.
and subsecuently terminated without renewal shall comply with paragraphs (1) and (2) upon termination.
SEC. ':
Secticn 204 (e) is amended by adding at the end thereof a new parag aph to read as fellows:
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"(2).
This s':bsection shall be effective en the date three yea"s ?lter the cate of enactment of this Act. "
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SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS A product of the hectic final days of the 95th Congress, the Uranium. Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 contains certain provisions regarding dates of effectiveness which, if left to stand, may be subject to differing legal inter-pretation.
Specifically, two questions of immediate concent have arisen regarding the timing of State and NRC implementation of title II of the Act:
(1) Do both the States and the Federal Government have authority to license uranium mill tailings (i.e., exercise concurrent licens-ing jurisdiction) for the three years following enactment of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act?
(2) Are the requirements of new section 274o of the Atomic Energy Act pertaining to procedures to be foilowed by Agreement States in issuing source material licenses for uranium mills irmedictely effective?
These questions have arisen because one section of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (section 208) makes the provisions of the regJiatory
_ program in title II of the Act immediately effective unless otheMee specified, and another section of the Act (section 404(h)(1)) delays the eft veness cf certain provisions of the Act regarding State authorities for three years after the date of enactment.
Accordingly, the Nuclear Regulatory Con:ission. has proposed amendments to clarify the effective dates of title II.
These amendments generally provide a three-year interim period before the require-ments in title II of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (Mill Tailings Act) apply to milling operations and tailings licensed by Agreement States.
In non-Agreement States, the NRC would have immediate authority to implement the regulatory program in title II.
Although section 204(h)(1) preserves prior State authority for three years, in case of conflict between Federal and State law, the Federai would prevail.
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s One of the provisions in title II (section 205) adds a new section 275 to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.
Section 275 authorizes certain Environmental Protec-tien Agency standards which are, under section 10S(a)(2) of the Mill Tailings Act, a prerequisite to the remedial actions authorized in title I.
Thus it is stressed that these clarifying amendments are not intended to prevent the Adminis-trator of the Environmental Protection Agency or the Nuclear Regulatory Comission
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from taking such action under s2ction 275 of the Atomic Energy Act as m'y be a
necessary to implement title I of the Mill Tailings Act.
Sec.1.
During the threp years following enactment of the Mill Tailings Act, section 1 prohibits the NRC from exercising duplicative authority over tailings
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produced in activities licensed by Agreement States unless the agreement is teminated within that period.
The EPA and NRC may, however, take such action under 2'i5 of the Atomic Energy Act as may be necessary to implecsent title I of the Mill Tailings Act.
Sec.'2; This secti6n makes the provision in-section 204(h)(1) of:the. Mill Tailinci Act preserving'Stnte authority:over tailings and wastes for the three-year interim conform to the new requirements of the Mill Tailings Act which apply to both byproduct material and milling operations that result in the tailings and wastes now defined as byproduct material.
As enacted, section 204(h)(1) mentions only byproduct material specifically, although the regulatory program generally covers both milling and tailings.
As amended, this section explicitly covers bott byproduct material and milling operations and applies also to States that enter into agreements during the r ee-year interim.
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Further provision is cade so that EPA and NP.C r.ay take such action under section 275 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (as added by the Mill Tailings Act) as may be necessary to implement the remedial action program in title I of the Mill Tailings Act imediately.
Sec. 3.
As originally enacted, section 83 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 ray 'be subject to various interpretations regarding its timing.
Its provisions are not, under seccion 202(b) of the Mill Tcilings Act, to become effective until three years from their date of enactment.
Honetheless, section 83a (as added by section 202 of the Mill Tailings Act) states that licenses in effect on the date of enactment of this secti must comply with S3a(1) and (2) upon their renewal or termination, whichever first occurs.
Conceivably this renewal o~ termination could take place during the three-year period in which section 83 is not supposed to be effective.
The sentence as amended applies section 83a' only to licenses that are renewed or terminated after the effective date of section 83.
Moreover, it cight be argued that a loophole was left for licenses issued after the date of enactment but before the effective date of section 83.
It could be argued that such licenses would not be covered by section 83a.
As amended, the section applies the requirements of section 83a to any license in effect on the effective date of section 83.
Sec. 4.
This section amends section 204(e) of the Mill Tailings Act to make i clear that the new Agreement State responsibilities regarding tailings 443 39
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and milling operations in new section 274o of the Atcmic Energy Act are not effective until three years after the enactment of the Mill Tail.ings Act.
The States are, however, encouraged to implement the new standards and requirements of the Mill Tailings Act to the maximum extent practicable.
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PAT htLLIAMS anoNT Honorable Joseph Hendrie Chairman, riuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C. 20555
Dear Chairman Hendrie:
Dur ing your testimony last month on the fiRC fiscal year 1980 budget request before th'
-r Environment and Public Works Committee and the House Interior and Insular h airs and Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committees, you referred to potentia problems in implementing Public Law 95-604, the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978.
Specifically, you mentioned that there may exist some uncertainty based upon the language of the statute regarding the date by which the Agreement States must meet the new requirements in the statute and the need for the Commission to exercise within the Agreement States its new licensing authority for uranium mill tailings.
At that time, you indicated the Commission's continued support for the three year grace period in making these requirements effective, but expressed the view that any interpretation of the present statutory language on these points would likely lead to litigation.
It is our view that these questions should be resolved promptly, in accor-I dance with the intent of the Congress, and in a manner which will not cause dis-ruptions in the ongoing regulatory programs and activities of tiRC and the Agreement States.
In that regard, we are concerned that the statute might be interpreted to require the Agreement States to immediately meet tn new requirements of the Act in all cases or to require the duplicate licensing by fiRC of all uranium mills and mill tailings in the Agreement States.
Such interpretations, in our view, would be contrary to the intent of Congress and would discourage rather than encourage the Agreement States from making every effort to raet the r,ew requirements of the Act as early as possible.
As the principal authors of the legislation in the House and the Senate, we are confident the Congress intended for t4RC to exercise authority over mill tailings in t'.
Non-Agreement States immediately, and intended to provide for a period of up :.o three years for Agreement States which license uranium milling o'perations or mill tailings to meet the new requirements of the statute.
During this tnree year period, an Agreement State could continue its iicensing activities under previously existing authority.
flew s',andards and requirements would be aDplicable to the maximum extent practicable, and fiRC is expected to make every
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Honorable Joseph Hendfie, ca;e 2 effort to encourage and assist the States in upgraaing their licensing programs to meet the new requirements as early as possible.
The Congress did not inter.d for NRC to immediately exercise licensing authority within Agreement States which were exercising authority over uranium milling operations or aill tailings on the date of enactment.
At the expiration of the three year interim pericd, however, NRC would exercise its authority in any State which did not then have in effect a licensing program satisfying all of the applicable new standards and requirements.
I.' the Commission would benefit in future enforcement of this intent and interpretation from clarifying legislation, we would be happy to provide our
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Senator den 'ngs andolph Congressman John D. Dir.ge
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$ ry. art Congressman Morris K. Uda o
L L L _ jO s aenator Pete Domenici Congressman Robert E. Bauman F.
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