Senate bill to help communities like Wiscasset ‘STRANDED’ with nuclear waste

U.S. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois have introduced the Sensible, Timely Relief for America’s Nuclear Districts’ Economic Development (STRANDED) Act.  The legislation would address the impacts of stranded nuclear waste by providing federal assistance to communities around the country that are burdened with storing this spent fuel, according to a news release. 

The Senators’ bipartisan legislation would award economic impact grants to local government entities to offset the economic impacts of stranded nuclear waste, establish a task force to identify existing funding that could benefit these communities, and create a competitive innovative solutions prize competition to help these communities find alternatives to nuclear facilities, generating sites, and waste sites. Affected communities would be eligible for $15 per kilogram of spent nuclear fuel stored, which is consistent with the rate for impact assistance established under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. 

The STRANDED Act is supported by the town of Wiscasset, where Selectmen passed a resolution last year calling for passage of the bill.  

Wiscasset is the home of Maine Yankee nuclear power plant that shut down in 1997. 

Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and a contract with the Department of Energy, waste there was required to be removed by January 1998.  However, more than 60 canisters of nuclear waste are still located at the Maine Yankee site. 

According to Collins, the STRANDED Act would establish a grant program to support economic development and create jobs in communities that are burdened with the cost of storing spent nuclear fuel. 

“While the federal government must also move forward with a permanent solution for nuclear waste as required by law, our legislation will take interim steps to assist these adversely impacted communities,” Collins stated in the release. 

 “For more than two decades, the people of Wiscasset have been stuck dealing with nuclear waste that the federal government has failed to remove from Maine Yankee,” said King, member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and bill cosponsor, in the release. “As we continue to press the Department of Energy to live up to its legal responsibility, we should also take steps to support communities like Wiscasset as they continue to face the costs associated with this stranded nuclear waste. This shouldn’t be their burden to face alone.” 

Sen. Ed Markey and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are original cosponsors of the bill.