Findings

Congress finds that— (1) communities throughout the United States, including communities in the States of California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, and Wisconsin, are tasked with dealing with stranded nuclear waste; (2) communities affected by stranded nuclear waste are de facto interim nuclear waste storage sites; (3) the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.)— (A) directed the Secretary of Energy to make annual impact assistance payments to States or appropriate units of local government to mitigate the social and economic impacts of the establishment and operation of interim nuclear waste storage capacity within the jurisdictional boundaries of an affected community; and (B) established the rate for impact assistance payments at $15 per kilogram of spent nuclear fuel; (4) decommissioning a commercial nuclear power plant is often catastrophic for the host community because nuclear power plants are major employers and the primary source of local tax revenue; (5) stranded nuclear waste is a profound obstacle to future economic growth, deterring potential employers and residents from considering the host community; (6) stranded nuclear waste prevents economic development in communities in which the stranded nuclear waste is located; (7) stranded nuclear waste prevents communities from redeveloping sites where nuclear power plants previously operated which further inhibits tax revenues; and (8) it is critical to provide resources to communities that— (A) are challenged by stranded nuclear waste; or (B) will be challenged by stranded nuclear waste during the 10-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act.