SENATE BILL REPORT

SSB 5165

BYSenate Committee on Energy & Utilities (originally sponsored by Senators Williams, Stratton, Tanner, Bauer, Bender, Conner, DeJarnatt, Halsan, Talmadge, Garrett, Gaspard, Rasmussen, Rinehart, Wojahn, Smitherman, Owen, Peterson and Moore)

Regulating the transportation of radioactive materials.

Senate Committee on Energy & Utilities

Senate Hearing Date(s):January 22, 1987; January 29, 1987; February 12, 1987

Majority Report:  That Substitute Senate Bill No. 5165 be substituted therefor, and the substitute bill do pass.

      Signed by Senators Williams, Chairman; Owen, Vice Chairman; Smitherman, Stratton.

Senate Staff:Paul Parker (786-7455)

                  April 12, 1988

AS PASSED SENATE, MARCH 10, 1987

BACKGROUND:

About 2.8 million packages of radioactive materials are shipped nationally each year.  According to a 1984 study, between 1971 and 1982, there were 123 reported radioactive materials transportation accidents.  Twelve of these involved a release of radioactivity.  There were also 167 handling incidents and 616 other incidents reported during this period.

In Washington, there were nearly 1,100 low-level waste shipments to the Hanford disposal site last year.  In 1986, inspections at the border of 1,018 vehicles transporting radioactive material resulted in issuance of 48 arrest tickets and 364 written warnings. Approximately 17 percent of the vehicles were temporarily delayed due to deficiencies such as faulty brakes or lights.

Shipments of highway-route controlled quantity material, including spent fuel shipments, also cross the state.  To date, these shipments have resulted in no accidental release of radioactivity, nor any major nonradiological accident or injury.  Should, however, Hanford be chosen as a high-level waste repository site, Spokane could become a crossroads for 6,200 annual truckloads, or 800 trains, filled with high-level radioactive waste.

SUMMARY:

Transport of radioactive materials by water, rail or highway is regulated.  Permits are required for each shipment of highway route controlled quantity radioactive materials and radioactive waste.  An annual permit is required for shipments of some types of radioactive material used in industry.  An annual permit may also be required for placarded shipments of other frequently shipped radioactive materials. Annual permits may be obtained in conjunction with payment of radioactive materials license fees.

Permit applications are accompanied by a fee.  Money collected from the fee is deposited in the radioactive materials safety account. Funds may be used for:  (1) operations of the Office of Radiation Protection; (2) inspection costs incurred by the State Patrol and the Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC); and (3) costs of training emergency response personnel.  Information contained in permits is available to state and local agencies.

All transporters of highway route controlled materials or radioactive waste must submit to comprehensive inspections performed by the State Patrol or UTC before transport or at the port of entry.  DSHS is designated the state agency primarily responsible for responding to radioactive materials accidents.

The State Patrol is given statutory authority to establish standards for the designation of areas to park vehicles transporting radioactive materials.  The State Patrol is also given statutory authority to impound motor vehicles transporting radioactive materials if the vehicles are unsafe.

The DSHS Secretary, the Attorney General, or any prosecuting attorney may bring a civil suit against persons failing to obtain a permit, making false statements on permit applications, or violating permits.  Money collected from civil actions is combined with money received from permit applications.  Persons failing to obtain or violating permits are subject to criminal penalties.

The DSHS Secretary is to prepare a report each year on the transportation of radioactive materials in Washington and provide an evaluation of the adequacy of the emergency response capability of DSHS to accidents involving radioactive materials. DSHS may establish an advisory committee on the transportation of radioactive materials.

All requirements imposed must be consistent with all applicable federal statutes and rules.

Revenue:    Permit applications are to be accompanied by a fee determined by the DSHS Secretary within statutory guidelines.  Money collected is deposited in the radioactive materials enforcement and emergency response fund.

Fiscal Note:      available

Effective Date:January 1, 1988

Senate Committee - Testified: Dick Watson, WSEO; Rick Jensen, WSP; Steve McCellan, UTC; Shari Barnard, Councilwoman, City of Spokane; Gerald Pollet, WashPIRG; Barry Bede, US Ecology, Inc.; Jim Petersen, USDOE; Terry Strong, DSHS; Ed Edwards, Seattle Fire Dept.; Patrick Halstead, Class One Railroads; Bruce Wishart, Sierra Club; Terry Husseman, Nuclear Waste Mgmt.; Tom Buchanan, Inland Waters Coalition; Nancy Kirner, DSHS