By Lloyd Marbet
State Senator Brian Boquist has sponsored SB 360 in the 2021 Oregon State Legislature. This bill is currently assigned to the Senate Committee on Energy and the Environment. Senator Boquist also sponsored SB 990 in the 2017 legislative session and SB 444 in the 2019 legislative session. Both of these two previous Senate bills, promoting the construction and operation of small modular nuclear reactors in Oregon, were stopped from becoming law. We now face yet another attempt to pass this legislation into law!
SB 360, just like the previous 2017 and 2019 Senate bills, proposes to exempt small modular nuclear reactors from the ballot measure law passed by Oregon voters in 1980 prohibiting the construction of nuclear power plants in Oregon until “an adequate repository for the disposal of the high-level radioactive waste produced by the plant has been licensed to operate by the appropriate agency of the federal government” (ORS 469.595); and if such a high level radioactive waste repository is federally licensed, then the proposed nuclear plant in Oregon is subject to statewide voter approval. (ORS 469.597)
SB 360 would allow small modular nuclear reactors to be sited in an Oregon city or a county where voters of the city or county approve small modular nuclear reactors to be built. These reactor modules can be grouped together in a single installation making them equivalent in output to large nuclear reactors. SB 360 also requires that the emergency planning zones for these small modular nuclear reactors be solely located within the county where they are approved.
State Representative Daniel Bonham has sponsored HB 2330 in the 2021 Oregon State Legislature. This bill is currently assigned to the House Committee on Energy and the Environment.
HB 2332 proposes to “REPEAL” ORS 469.590, 469.593, 469.595, 469.597, 469.599 and 469.601. This is again the ballot measure law passed by Oregon voters in 1980 prohibiting the construction of nuclear power plants in Oregon until “an adequate repository for the disposal of the high-level radioactive waste produced by the plant has been licensed to operate by the appropriate agency of the federal government” (ORS 469.595); and if such a high level radioactive waste repository is federally licensed, then the proposed nuclear plant in Oregon is subject to statewide voter approval. (ORS 469.597)
This bill, if it become law, opens the door to siting ANY KIND OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANT in Oregon, without requiring a federally licensed repository for its high level nuclear waste and a statewide vote of the people for approval.
State Representative Brad Witt has sponsored HB 2692 in the 2021 Oregon State Legislature. This bill is currently assigned to the House Committee on Energy and the Environment.
HB 2692 proposes an outright exemption for small modular nuclear reactors from the requirements of the ballot measure law passed by Oregon voters in 1980 prohibiting the construction of nuclear power plants in Oregon until “an adequate repository for the disposal of the high-level radioactive waste produced by the plant has been licensed to operate by the appropriate agency of the federal government” (ORS 469.595); and if such a high level radioactive waste repository is federally licensed, then the proposed nuclear plant in Oregon is subject to statewide voter approval. (ORS 469.597)
It also requires the Oregon Department Energy to use taxpayer dollars to develop and administer a program for “educating the public” about small modular nuclear reactors. This puts Oregon in the business of becoming a public relations arm of the nuclear industry, promoting NuScale and other small modular nuclear reactors as a so called solution to furthering Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals.
There is no final repository for High Level Nuclear Waste produced in the United States. This includes the same kind of high level nuclear waste that will be produced by small modular nuclear reactors! We need to enforce the law that was passed by Oregon voters in 1980, not provide loopholes or repeal the hard fought efforts by Oregonians to make the nuclear power industry responsible for its high level nuclear waste, and most importantly give all Oregon voters the final say on whether nuclear plants can be built and operated in our state! The links above to each of the bills will take you to the Oregon Legislature’s website and give you information on their progress, the committees they are assigned to and notification of public hearings. OCF will also be sending out alerts when hearings are scheduled. In the meantime spread the word, contact your State Senators, State Representatives and the Governor to let them know you are opposed to SB 360, HB 2332 and HB 2692.
Lloyd K. Marbet is a long-time anti-nuclear activist and the Executive Director of the Oregon Conservancy Foundation.