SB 59 - Under this act, shippers shipping radioactive waste in Missouri shall be subject to statutory fees established by the act. State-funded institutions of higher education who ship nuclear waste shall be exempt from the statutory fees but such institutions shall reimburse the Missouri Highway Patrol for costs associated with shipment escorts. The fee structure is described in the act and the Department of Natural Resources in coordination with the Departments of Health and Senior Services, and Public Safety may promulgate rules necessary to carry out the provisions of the act. Any shipper who fails to pay a fee or to provide notice of a shipment to the Department of Natural Resources shall be liable for a civil penalty of an amount not to exceed ten times the amount of the original fee assessed and not paid. The fees assessed and collected under the act shall be deposited into the environmental radiation monitoring fund. The department of natural resources may use moneys in the fund for the purposes delineated in the act. The act requires the Department of Natural Resources to prepare a report for the General Assembly beginning December 31, 2009, and every two years thereafter on all activities relating to the environmental radiation monitoring fund.
The provisions of this act do not apply to radioactive waste being shipped by or for the federal government for military or national defense purposes. This portion of the act shall sunset six years after the effective date of the section unless reauthorized by the General Assembly (Sections 260.392 and 260.750). These provisions are contained in SB 919 and the perfected version of SB 761 (2008).
STEPHEN WITTE