Sec. 1. 35-A MRSA §4392, sub-§4, ¶B, as enacted by PL 1987, c. 141, Pt. A, §6, is repealed.

Sec. 2. 35-A MRSA §4392, sub-§4, ¶E is enacted to read:

E.__The fund may be invested only in a manner consistent with the criteria for decommissioning trust funds as described in 18 Code of Federal Regulations, Sections 35.32(a)(3) and 35.33(c)(1998).

Sec. 3. 35-A MRSA §4392, sub-§5, as enacted by PL 1987, c. 141, Pt. A, §6, is amended to read:

5. Expenditures from the fund. The trustee shall make payments from the fund to the United States Department of Energy in accordance with the United States Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 and any contract between the licensee and the department under that Act for the disposal of all spent nuclear fuel used prior to April 7, 1983. Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, the trustee shall make payments from the fund to the licensee to meet expenditures for on-site interim spent fuel storage costs and to offset those on-site interim spent fuel storage costs already incurred by the licensee.

Sec. 4. Return and expenditure of ratepayer funds. No later than 30 days after the effective date of this Act, any amounts transferred to the State Planning Office pursuant to Public Law 1993, chapter 664, section 22, subsection 1, paragraphs A and B from the low- level radioactive waste self-insurance fund established pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 38, former section 1540, subsection 4 and the Low-level Radioactive Waste Facility Fund established pursuant to Title 38, former section 1535 must be returned to Maine Yankee for deposit in the Maine Yankee Decommissioning Trust Fund to reduce the cost of decommissioning.

SUMMARY

This bill seeks to reduce the costs to ratepayers of the decommissioning of the Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant and for the storage of spent fuel and low-level nuclear waste by using the money already collected from ratepayers for low-level waste disposal and spent fuel disposal.

The bill changes the restrictions for investment of the Spent Nuclear Fuel Disposal Trust Fund to encourage a greater