(a)  The department is authorized, pursuant to subdivision (d), to establish and operate, or contract for the establishment and contract for operation, of one or more low-level radioactive waste interim storage facilities for the exclusive use of persons located in California who are licensed by the department or the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

(b)  In addition to the fees authorized to be levied pursuant to Section 115065, the department is authorized to set and collect fees, by regulation, to be paid by generators in California of low-level radioactive waste in an amount sufficient to support the development and operation of the facilities including the surveillance and repair of damaged packages, maintenance of the facilities, decontamination, decommissioning, and postclosure maintenance of these facilities, recordkeeping systems, and other activities as the department finds necessary to ensure the safe operation of such a facility. In no event shall any fee be set in an amount that exceeds the amount reasonably necessary to implement this section. The department is also authorized to require the operators or the users of the facilities to post bonds or possess adequate insurance as may be reasonably necessary to protect the state against such liabilities as storage and ultimate disposal costs for abandoned waste and against claims arising out of accidents or failures of the storage facility.

(c)  All users of any facility operated pursuant to this section must all meet state and federal orders, requirements, or regulations for handling and management of low-level radioactive waste including those prescribed pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 115005.

(d)  No low-level radioactive waste interim storage facility may be established pursuant to subdivision (a) until all of the following occurs:

(1)  The department has fulfilled the requirements of subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 115005 and has submitted its findings to the Legislature.

(2)  The establishment of the interim storage facility is consistent with the elements of the low-level radioactive waste disposal plan specified in subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 115005.

(3)  The department files a notice with the Legislature, while in session, 60 days before establishing the facility.

(e)  In addition to any other grounds authorizing the department, or any person with whom it contracts, to cease the operation of a low-level radioactive waste interim storage facility, any such facility shall cease accepting low-level radioactive waste for interim storage (1) no later than five years after the date it commences operating or (2) if the director determines that an alternate disposal site is available to California licensees in the western region of the United States, whichever event occurs first.

(f)  Within seven years of commencing operation of any interim storage facility all wastes stored at the facility shall be transferred to a permanent land burial disposal site or permanently disposed of by some other treatment or means of disposal and the facility shall be closed and thereafter, to the extent necessary, as determined by the department, decontaminated and decommissioned.

(g)  This section shall remain in effect for a period of eight years from the date of the establishment of a low-level radioactive waste interim storage facility pursuant to this section, and as of that date is repealed. The director shall report the date the facility is established to the appropriate committees of each house of the Legislature and the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

(Added by Stats. 1995, Ch. 415, Sec. 6. Effective January 1, 1996. Repealed as of date prescribed by its own provisions.)