Volume 85 · 304
Public Law 92–84
To authorize appropriations to the Atomic Energy Commission in accordance with section 261 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and for other purposes.
Approved August 11, 1971
Statutory text
AN ACT
To authorize appropriations to the Atomic Energy Commission in accordance with section 261 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
Sec. 101.
There is hereby authorized to be appropriated to the Atomic Energy Commission in accordance with the provisions of section 261
of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended:
For “Operating expenses”, $2,029,571,000, of which not less than $31,000,000 shall be available for controlled thermonuclear fusion research and development, and of which not more than $116,400,000 shall be available for operating costs for the high energy physics program category.
For “Plant and capital equipment,” including construction, acquisition, or modification of facilities, including land acquisition; and acquisition and fabrication of capital equipment not related to construction, a sum of dollars equal to the total of the following:
Nuclear Materials.—
Project 72–1–a, electrical system modifications for higher power operation of gaseous diffusion plant, Paducah, Kentucky, $2,000,000. Project 72–1–b, cooling water system modifications for higher power operation of gaseous diffusion plant, Paducah, Kentucky, $2,800,000. Project 72–1–c, replacement of direct buried radioactive waste transfer lines, Richland, Washington, $2,300,000. Project 72–1–d, irradiated fuel storage facility, National Reactor Testing Station, Idaho, $2,500,000. Project 72–1–e, improvements in radioactive waste management and supporting facilities, multiple sites, $5,000,000. Project 72–1–f, component preparation laboratories, multiple sites, $3,000,000. Project 72–1–g, facilities for integrated operation of chemical separations plants, Richland, Washington, $1,500,000. Project 72–1–h, air filter for laboratory facilities, Savannah River, South Carolina, $2,500,000.
Atomic Weapons.—
Project 72–2–a, weapons production, development, and test installations, $10,000,000. Project 72–2–b, weapons neutron research facility (AE only), Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, New Mexico, $585,000.
Reactor Development.—
Project 72–3–a, liquid metal engineering center facility modifications, Santa Susana, California, $1,000,000. Project 72–3–b, national radioactive waste repository, Lyons, Kansas, $3,500,000: Provided, That—
Except as provided in subparagraph (E), no funds shall be obligated or expended (i) for the acquisition of a fee simple interest in land or for the acquisition of any other interest in land which exceeds three years from the date of enactment of this Act, or (ii) for or in connection with the burial of radioactive materials at the proposed site other than for experimental purposes, including demonstrations, and then only when and if such materials are fully retrievable throughout such three year period.
The President of the United States shall appoint an advisory council which shall be composed of nine members at least
Report to Congress.
three of whom shall be from Kansas. The advisory council may report to the Congress from time to time.
The Atomic Energy Commission (acting directly or by contract) shall conduct laboratory and other tests and research (whether onsite or elsewhere) relating to the safety of the project, the protection of public health, and the preservation of the quality of the environment before any high level radioactive waste material is placed in salt mines at the proposed site except as provided in subparagraph (A).
No nigh level radioactive materials shall be buried or used,
Report to Congress.
other than as provided by clause (ii) of subparagraph (A), at the proposed site until the advisory council reports to the Congress that construction and operation of such project and the transportation of waste materials to the project can be carried out in a manner which assures the safety of the project, the protection of public health, and the preservation of the quality of the environment of the region.
The limitations provided by subparagraph (A) shall not apply after the expiration of sixty calendar days of continuous session of the Congress after the date on which the advisory council submits its report under subparagraph (D). For purposes of the preceding sentence, continuity of session is broken only by an adjournment of Congress sine die, and the days on which either House is not in session because of an adjournment of more than three days to a day certain are excluded in the computation of the sixty-day period.
Project 72–3–c, analytical support facility, Mound Laboratory, Miamisburg, Ohio, $850,000. Project 72–3–d, research and development test plants, Project Rover, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, New Mexico, and Nevada Test Site, Nevada, $1,000,000.
Physical Research.—
Project 72–4–a, accelerator improvements, zero gradient synchrotron, Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois, $225,000. Project 72–4–b, accelerator and reactor additions and modifications, Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, $280,000. Project 72–4–c, accelerator improvements, Cambridge Electron Accelerator, Massachusetts, $75,000. Project 72–4–d, accelerator improvements, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Berkeley, California, $180,000. Project 72–4–e, accelerator and reactor improvements, medium and low energy physics, $400,000.
Biology and Medicine.—
Project 72–5–a, radiobiology and therapy research facility (AE only), Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, New Mexico, $345,000.
General Plant Projects.—
$41,080,000.
Capital Equipment.—
Acquisition and fabrication of capital equipment not related to construction, $153,296,000.
Sec. 102. Limitations.—
The Commission is authorized to start any project set forth in subsections 101 (b) (1), (2), (3), (4), and (5) only if the currently estimated cost of that project does not exceed by more than 25 per centum the estimated cost set forth for that project.
The Commission is authorized to start any project under subsection 101(b)(6) only if it is in accordance with the following:
The maximum currently estimated cost of any project shall be $500,000 and the maximum currently estimated cost of any building included in such project shall be $100,000 provided that the building cost limitation may be exceeded if the Commission determines that it is necessary in the interest of efficiency and economy.
The total cost of all projects undertaken under subsection 101(b)(6) shall not exceed the estimated cost set forth in that subsection by more than 10 per centum.
Sec. 103.
The Commission is authorized to perform construction design services for any Commission construction project whenever (1) such construction project has been included in a proposed authorization bill transmitted to the Congress by the Commission and (2) the Commission determines that the project is of such urgency that construction of the project should be initiated promptly upon enactment of legislation appropriating funds for its construction.
Sec. 104.
When so specified in an appropriation Act, transfers of amounts between “Operating expenses” and “Plant and capital equipment” may be made as provided in such appropriation Act.
Sec. 105. Amendment of Prior Year Acts.—
Section 101 of Public Law 89–32, as amended, is further amended by (1) striking therefrom the figure “$2,658,821,000”, and substituting therefor the figure “$2,664,521,000”; (2) striking from subsection (b) thereof the figure “$398,045,000”, and substituting therefor the figure
‘$403,745,000”; and (3) striking from subsection (b)(4) for project 66–4–a, sodium pump test facility, the words “for design and Phase I construction,” and further striking the figure “$6,800,000” and substituting therefor the figure “$12,500,000”.
Section 101 of Public Law 91–44, as amended, is further amended by striking from subsection (b)(5) thereof the figure “$560,000” for project 70–5–a, conversion of heating plant to natural gas, Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois, and substituting therefor the figure “$860,000”.
Section 101 of Public Law 91–273, as amended, is further amended by (1) striking from subsection (b)(1) thereof the figure “$14,700,000” for project 71–1–e, gaseous diffusion production support facilities, and substituting therefor the figure “$45,700,000”; (2) striking from subsection (b)(1) thereof the figure “$6,400,000” for project 71–1–f, process equipment modifications, gaseous diffusion plants, and substituting therefor the figure “$10,400,000”; and (3) striking from subsection
(b) (9) thereof the figure “$25,500,000” for project 71–9, fire, safety, and adequacy of operating conditions projects, various locations, and substituting therefor the figure “$45,700,000.”
Section 106 of Public Law 91–273, as amended, is amended by (1) striking from subsection (a) thereof the figure “$50,000,000”, wherever it appears therein, and substituting therefor the figure “$100,000,000”; (2) striking from subsection (a) thereof the phrase “up to a total amount of “$20,000,000”; and (3) adding the following after the words “civilian base program:” “Provided, That such assistance shall not include the furnishing of end capital items of this demonstration plant excluding items which the Commission may deem necessary for research, development or testing in light of its liquid metal fast breeder reactor base program: And provided further, That such assistance which the Commission undertakes specifically for this demonstration plant shall not exceed 50 per centum of the estimated capital cost of such plant: And”.
Sec. 106. Rescission.—
Public Law 90–56, as amended, is further amended by rescinding therefrom authorization for a project, except for funds heretofore obligated, as follows: Project 68–3–b, isotopic space systems facility, Sandia Base, New Mexico, $2,250,000.
Sec. 107. Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor Base Program Project.—
As part of the Commission’s liquid metal fast breeder reactor base program, the Commission is hereby authorized to enter into a definitive arrangement, for a term not exceeding seven years, for the conduct in the Enrico Fermi Atomic Power Plant of a program of plant operation, and research and development of programmatic interest to the Commission; and the Commission is further authorized as part of such arrangement, and without regard to the provisions of section 169 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, to waive
use charges for special nuclear material, up to a total amount of
$9,100,000, and to distribute special nuclear material by lease during the term of the arrangement.
TITLE II
Sec. 201.
Subsection a of section 31 of the Atomic Energy Act
Research.
of 1954, as amended, is amended by (1) striking the word “and” from
the end of paragraph (4) thereof; (2) striking from the end of paragraph (5) thereof the period and substituting therefor and” and (3) by adding thereto a new paragraph (6) to read as follows:
“(6) the preservation and enhancement of a viable environment by developing more efficient methods to meet the Nation’s energy needs.”
The first sentence of section 33 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, is amended to read as follows: “Where the Commission
finds private facilities or laboratories are inadequate for the purpose, it is authorized to conduct for other persons, through its own facilities, such of those activities and studies of the types specified in section 31 as it deems appropriate to the development of energy.”
Approved August 11, 1971.