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House Bill 1386 |
House Author: King, Phil |
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Effective: 9-1-07 |
Senate Sponsor: Fraser |
House Bill 1386 amends the Utilities Code to establish a mechanism to fund the eventual decommissioning of future nuclear power plants that are constructed in Texas. The mechanism applies only to the first six nuclear generating units that are under construction by January 1, 2015, for which the power generation company (PGC) that owns or shares in ownership of the units opts to use the prescribed mechanism. The bill expressly states that its provisions do not require a PGC to use a state-approved method, if in some other way the PGC satisfies the decommissioning financing requirements of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
Under the bill, a PGC that owns or shares in ownership and opts for the mechanism makes annual payments from its wholesale electric power supply revenue to cover, as those payments accumulate, its estimated decommissioning costs or its proportionate share of those costs. Payments go into a decommissioning trust fund administered by the nuclear generating unit PGC owner. The bill establishes procedures by which the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) periodically reviews funding amounts and PGC obligations and may order revisions to the annual contributions. Besides the trust fund, a PGC separately must provide financial assurances that up to 16 years worth of decommissioning funding will be available if the PGC defaults on its annual trust fund obligation. In certain circumstances in which the PGC's financial assurances prove inadequate, retail electric customers may become responsible for the shortfall, but if those circumstances happen while the unit is still operational, the PGC or any new owner of the unit must repay those customers. The bill provides that a PGC's obligation to fund a trust fund is not dischargeable in bankruptcy. It requires the PUC, in conjunction with the NRC, to investigate the development of a mechanism whereby the State of Texas could ensure that decommissioning funds will be obtained when necessary in the same manner as if the State of Texas were the nuclear generating unit licensee under federal law.