Section R313-25-31 - Funding for Disposal Site Closure and Stabilization(1) The applicant shall provide assurances prior to the commencement of operations, and a licensee shall provide assurances annually, that sufficient funds are or will be available to carry out land disposal facility closure and stabilization, including: (a) decontamination or dismantlement of land disposal facility structures, and(b) closure and stabilization of the disposal site so that following transfer of the disposal site to the site owner, the need for ongoing active maintenance is eliminated to the extent practicable and only minor custodial care, surveillance, and monitoring are required. These assurances shall be based on Director approved cost estimates reflecting the Director approved plan for disposal site closure and stabilization. The applicant's or the licensee's cost estimates shall take into account total costs that would be incurred if an independent contractor were hired to perform the closure and stabilization work, in accordance with R313-25-31.5.(2) In order to avoid unnecessary duplication and expense, the Director will accept financial sureties that have been consolidated with earmarked financial or surety arrangements established to meet requirements of Federal or other State agencies or local governmental bodies for decontamination, closure, and stabilization as to any unlicensed facility. The Director will accept these arrangements only if they are considered adequate to satisfy the requirements of Section R313-25-31 and if they clearly identify the portion of the surety which covers the closure of such unlicensed facility and is committed for use in accomplishing these activities.(3) The licensee's financial or surety arrangement shall be submitted annually for review by the Director to assure that sufficient funds will be available for completion of the closure plan.(4) The amount of the licensee's financial or surety arrangement shall change in accordance with changes in the predicted costs of closure and stabilization. Factors affecting closure and stabilization cost estimates include inflation, increases in the amount of disturbed land, changes in engineering plans, closure and stabilization that have already been accomplished, and other conditions affecting costs. The financial or surety arrangement shall be sufficient at all times to cover the costs of closure and stabilization of the disposal units that are expected to be used before the next license renewal.(5) The financial or surety arrangement shall be written for a specified period of time and shall be automatically renewed unless the person who issues the surety notifies the Director; the beneficiary, the site owner; and the principal, the licensee, not less than 90 days prior to the renewal date of its intention not to renew. In such a situation, the licensee shall submit a replacement surety within 30 days after notification of cancellation. If the licensee fails to provide a replacement surety acceptable to the Director, the beneficiary may collect on the original surety. (6) Proof of forfeiture shall not be necessary to collect the surety so that, in the event that the licensee could not provide an acceptable replacement surety within the required time, the surety shall be automatically collected prior to its expiration. The conditions described above shall be clearly stated on surety instruments.(7) Financial or surety arrangements generally acceptable to the Director include surety bonds, cash deposits, certificates of deposit, deposits of government securities, escrow accounts, irrevocable letters or lines of credit, trust funds, and combinations of the above or other types of arrangements as may be approved by the Director. Self-insurance, or an arrangement which essentially constitutes self-insurance, will not satisfy the surety requirement for private sector applicants.(8) The licensee's financial or surety arrangement shall remain in effect until the closure and stabilization program has been completed and approved by the Director, and the license has been transferred to the site owner.(9) The financial assurance shall be based on an annual estimate and shall include closure and post-closure costs in all areas subject to the licensed or permitted portions of the facility;(10) Financial assurance for an unlicensed facility that supports the operation of a licensed or permitted facility shall include the estimated cost of:(a) the removal of structures;(b) the testing of structures, roads, and property to ensure no radiological contamination has occurred outside of the licensed area; and(c) stabilization and water infiltration control;(11) Financial assurance cost estimates for a single approved waste disposal unit for which the volume of waste already placed and proposed to be placed in the unit within the surety period is less than the full waste capacity of the unit shall reflect the closure and post-closure costs for a waste disposal unit smaller than the approved waste disposal unit, if the unit could be reduced in size, meet closure requirements, and reduce closure costs;(12) Financial assurance cost estimates for two approved adjacent waste disposal units that have been approved to be combined into a single unit and for which the combined volume of waste already placed and proposed to be placed in the units within the surety period is less than the combined waste capacity for the two separate units shall reflect either two separate waste disposal units or a single combined unit, whichever has the lowest closure and post-closure costs;(13) The licensee or permittee shall annually propose closure and post-closure costs upon which financial assurance amounts are based, including costs of potential remediation at the licensed or permitted facility and, notwithstanding the obligations described in Subsection R313-25-31(10), any unlicensed facility;(14) To provide the information in Subsection R313-25-31(13), the licensee or permittee shall provide: (a) a proposed annual cost estimate using the current edition of RS Means Facilities Construction Cost Data or using a process, including an indirect cost multiplier, previously agreed to between the licensee or permittee and the Director; or(b)(i) for an initial financial assurance determination and for each financial assurance determination every five years thereafter, a proposed competitive site-specific estimate for closure and post-closure care of the facility at least once every five years; and (ii) for each year between a financial assurance determination described in Subsection R313-25-31(14)(b)(i), a proposed financial assurance estimate that accounts for current site conditions and that includes an annual inflation adjustment to the financial assurance determination using the Gross Domestic Product Implicit Price Deflator of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, United States Department of Commerce, calculated by dividing the latest annual deflator by the deflator for the previous year; and(15) The Director shall: (a) annually review the licensee's or permittee's proposed closure and post closure estimate; and(b) approve the estimate if the Director determines that the estimate would be sufficient to provide for closure and post-closure costs.Utah Admin. Code R313-25-31
Amended by Utah State Bulletin Number 2018-9, effective 4/16/2018