Section 28-31 - Nuclear safety emergency preparedness: Account; program; plan(a) The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority shall establish a nuclear safety emergency preparedness account, which shall be a separate, nonlapsing account within the General Fund, and which shall be financed through assessments of all Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensees that own or operate nuclear power generating facilities in the state. The authority shall initially assess the licensees for a total of two million dollars. The authority may assess licensees for such amounts as necessary for the purposes of the account, provided the balance in the account at the end of the fiscal year may not exceed three hundred thousand dollars. The authority shall annually assess the licensees, upon the request of the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, for funding to support annual expenses of five staff positions in the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and three staff positions in the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection. Personnel shall be assigned to said staff positions solely for the purposes of the program established pursuant to subsection (b) of this section. Federal reimbursements and grants obtained in support of the nuclear safety emergency preparedness program shall be paid into the General Fund and credited to the account. The authority shall develop an equitable method of assessing the licensees for their reasonable pro rata share of such assessments. All such assessments shall be included as operating expenses of the licensees for purposes of rate-making. All moneys within the account shall be invested by the State Treasurer in accordance with established investment practices and all interest earned by such investments shall be returned to the account.(b) Moneys in the account shall be expended by the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, in conjunction with the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection, only to support the activities of a nuclear safety emergency preparedness program and only in accordance with the plan approved by the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management under subsection (c) of this section. The program shall include, but not necessarily be limited to: (1) Development of a detailed fixed facility nuclear emergency response plan for areas surrounding each nuclear electrical generation facility and each away-from-reactor spent fuel storage facility, (2) annual training of state and local emergency response personnel, (3) development of accident scenarios and exercising of fixed facility nuclear emergency response plans, (4) provision of specialized response equipment necessary to accomplish this task, (5) support for the operations and personal services costs of the radiological instrument maintenance and calibration facility, as necessary to replace any reduction in current federal funding, and (6) any other measures as may be required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. Moneys in the account shall be distributed as follows to carry out the purposes of the program: The Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection may expend not more than twenty-five per cent of the proceeds of the maximum annual assessment for administrative functions incident to the program. The Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection may expend such additional funds as are necessary to assure and maintain emergency operations center capabilities and specialized response equipment necessary to implement the fixed facility nuclear emergency response plans. The remaining moneys in the account may be allocated to other state agencies and used to reimburse municipalities for costs incurred in the purchase and maintenance of equipment and for services rendered in carrying out the purposes of the program.(c) Not later than May first, annually, the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, in consultation with the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection, shall submit to the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management a plan for carrying out the purposes of the nuclear safety emergency preparedness program during the next state fiscal year. The plan shall include proposed itemized expenditures and measures for the program. The secretary shall review the plan and, not later than June first, annually, approve the plan if it conforms to the provisions of this section.(d) All moneys within the nuclear safety emergency preparedness account may be expended only in accordance with the provisions of this section.(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority may allow an additional assessment of the licensees to supplement the initial assessment of such licensees if either the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security disapproves or informs, in writing, the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection that it is likely to disapprove the nuclear safety emergency preparedness plan and additional funds are or would be needed to conform the plan to acceptable standards.(P.A. 81-409, S. 1, 2; P.A. 84-85; P.A. 86-312, S. 12, 21; P.A. 88-135, S. 9; P.A. 89-241; P.A. 91-326, S. 3, 4; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 92-12, S. 9, 10; P.A. 98-226, S. 1; P.A. 99-190, S. 7, 9; P.A. 04-219, S. 23; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 05-3, S. 23; P.A. 09-27, S. 2; P.A. 11-51, S. 134; 11-80, S. 1.)
Amended by P.A. 09-0027, S. 2 of the the 2009 Regular Session, eff. 10/1/2009.