§10173a Content of Agreements

Summary

The Secretary must pay a State or Indian tribe that signs a benefits agreement certain yearly and one-time sums from the Waste Fund. For a monitored retrievable storage (MRS) facility the payments are $5 million per year before the first receipt of spent fuel, $10 million when the facility first receives spent fuel, and $10 million per year after that until the facility closes. For a repository the payments are $10 million per year before first receipt, $20 million at first receipt, and $20 million per year after that until closure. “MRS” means a monitored retrievable storage facility. “Spent fuel” means high‑level radioactive waste or spent nuclear fuel. “First spent fuel receipt” does not include fuel received only for testing or demonstration. Pre‑receipt annual payments start when the agreement is signed and recur each year on that date. Post‑receipt annual payments are due each year on the anniversary of the first receipt. If the first‑receipt payment is made less than six months after the last pre‑receipt annual payment, that first payment is reduced by one‑twelfth of the pre‑receipt annual amount for each full month short of six. No payment can be made before January 1, 1989. The Secretary generally may not limit how the money is used, but each State must pass at least one‑third of each payment to affected local governments and include a plan for that split in the benefits agreement; the Secretary will resolve disputes about the plan consistent with this chapter and state law. A benefits agreement must set up a Review Panel (per section 10173b), require the State or tribe to waive its right to disapprove a repository site, require the parties to share licensing information, involve the State or tribe in facility design and preparation of public‑health and safety documents, and require the State or tribe to waive any rights to impact assistance under sections 10136(c)(1)(B)(ii), 10136(c)(2), 10138(b)(2)(A)(ii), and 10138(b)(3). The Secretary’s signature on a valid benefits agreement is the United States’ commitment to make the agreed payments from the Waste Fund.