Nuclear Regulatory Commission Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Authorization

Title II: Other Provisions

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 - Title I: Authorization - Authorizes appropriations from the Nuclear Waste Fund for FY 1999 for: (1) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC); and (2) the NRC Office of Inspector General.

(Sec. 102) Allocates such appropriations among: (1) Nuclear Reactor Safety; (2) Nuclear Materials Safety; (3) Nuclear Waste Safety; (4) Common Defense and Security and International Involvement; (5) Protecting the Environment; and (6) Management and Support.

Restricts the NRC from using more than one percent of such allocations to make grants and enter into cooperative agreements with organizations such as universities, State and local governments, and not-for-profit institutions. Mandates NRC notification to the Congress as a prerequisite to specified reallocations. Restricts the use of Nuclear Waste Fund appropriations solely to NRC high-level nuclear waste activities.

(Sec. 104) Authorizes the NRC to transfer specified funds from non-Nuclear Waste Fund appropriations to its Office of Inspector General.

(Sec. 106) Requires that appropriations for NRC regulatory assistance to Federal agencies for activities that do not derive their funding from the Nuclear Waste Fund be excluded from the calculation of the aggregate amount of specified charges.

(Sec. 107) Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 to extend through FY 2003 NRC authority to assess and collect user fees and annual charges.

Title II: Other Provisions - Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to repeal the requirement that the NRC maintain an office for the service of process and papers within the District of Columbia.

(Sec. 202) Provides that the initial duration of a combined construction and operating license for a production or utilization facility may not exceed 40 years from the date on which the NRC finds, prior to facility operation, that specified statutory acceptance criteria have been met.

(Sec. 203) Establishes a fund in the Treasury to receive gifts, bequests, and donations of real and personal property to the NRC. Prescribes NRC duties regarding such acquisitions.

(Sec. 204) Prescribes guidelines for the carrying of firearms and the authority to make arrests by employees or contractors of NRC licensees or certificate holders for the protection of property of significance to the common defense and security located at facilities owned or operated by an NRC licensee or certificate holder or being transported to or from such facilities.

(Sec. 205) Revises the crime of sabotage of Federal nuclear facilities to cover any production, utilization, waste storage, treatment, disposal, uranium enrichment, or nuclear fuel fabrication facility subject to licensing or certification under this Act during its construction where the destruction or damage caused or attempted could affect public health and safety during facility operation.

(Sec. 206) Authorizes the NRC to issue trespass regulations relating to property subject to its licensing or certification authority.

(Sec. 207) Amends the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 to prescribe guidelines for temporary continuation of service by an NRC commissioner whose term has expired.