The Energy Policy Act of 1992 established a Fund in the Treasury of the United States (42 U.S.C. s2297g). Amounts on deposit in the Fund are available to the Secretary of Energy, subject to appropriations, for D&D and remedial action activities at DOE's uranium enrichment facilities and for reimbursement of uranium and thorium licensees for certain costs of D&D, reclamation, and other remedial actions incurred by licensees at active uranium or thorium processing sites, as specified in Title X of the EPACT (42 U.S.C. s2296a et seq.). The Act provides that amounts in the Fund be invested by the Secretary of the Treasury in obligations of the United States. The Act also requires the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Secretary of Energy, to report to Congress annually on the financial condition and operations of the Fund.
The Act provides that the Fund shall consist of annual deposits of $480 million per fiscal year, to be annually adjusted for inflation using the Department of Labor's Consumer Price Index for all-urban consumers (CPI-U)(42 U.S.C. s2297g-1(a)). Deposits to the Fund are required to include a Special Assessment on domestic utilities not to exceed $150 million per fiscal year (adjusted for inflation using the CPI-U). Section 1802 also authorizes appropriations to be deposited into the Fund in the amount necessary to ensure that the total annual amount of $480 million (adjusted for inflation using the
CPI-U) is deposited (42 U.S.C. s2297g-1(b)). The amount collected from each domestic utility for the Special Assessment shall be in the same ratio to the total amount to be deposited in the Fund, for each fiscal year, as the total amount of separative work units (SWUs) the utility has purchased from DOE for the purpose of commercial electricity generation, prior to the date of enactment of the EPACT (October 24, 1992), bears to the total amount of SWUs purchased from DOE for all purposes, including units purchased or produced for defense purposes, prior to October 24, 1992 (42 U.S.C. s2297g-1(c)).
Collection of the Special Assessment is authorized as of the date of enactment of the EPACT (October 24, 1992), and shall continue for a period of the earlier of 15 years or until $2.25 billion (adjusted for inflation using the CPI-U) has been collected (42 U.S.C. s2297g-1(e)). A Special Assessment levied on domestic utilities is deemed by the Act to be a necessary and reasonable current cost of fuel, fully recoverable in a utility's rates in the same manner as other fuel costs (42 U.S.C. s2297 g-1(g)).
Section 1803 provides that the National Academy of Sciences shall conduct a study and provide recommendations for reducing the costs associated with D&D of the Department's uranium enrichment facilities, and report its finding to Congress within 3 years after the date of the enactment of EPACT (42 U.S.C. s 2297g-2(a)). This section specifies that the costs of D&D activities are to be paid from the Fund until such time as the Secretary of Energy certifies, and the Congress concurs, that the activities are complete (42 U.S.C. s2297g-2(b)). This section also specifies that the annual costs of remedial action at DOE's uranium enrichment facilities shall be paid from the Fund to the extent the amount available in the Fund is sufficient (42 U.S.C. s 2297g-2(c)).