During the 2015 General Session, the Legislature passed S.B. 173 that affected portions of Rule R313-25. However, rulemaking was deferred because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) determined that certain provisions of S.B. 173 were incompatible with federal law. These incompatibility issues were not finally resolved until 2017. During the 2017 General Session, the Legislature passed and the governor signed S.B. 79 which requires the Board to promulgate rules regarding financial assurance requirements for the closure and post closure care of a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility. S.B. 79 also modified certain facility definitions, triggering the need for conforming amendments in the rules. The current changes reflect both S.B. 173 and S.B. 79. Although financial assurance requirements have existed in Rule R313-25 for several years, the proposed changes are being made in order to meet the prescribed rulemaking direction found in S.B. 79, and to provide the tools and flexibility the Director believes are necessary to implement S.B. 79. More specifically, S.B. 79 allows radioactive waste licensees the opportunity to rely on either (i) RS Means or (ii) a "competitive site-specific estimate" as the basis for calculating financial surety. While RS Means represents a national average of heavy civil construction costs, S.B. 79 did not provide a definition for "competitive site-specific estimate". Based on the legislative history of S.B. 79, it was apparent to the Director that this undefined term referred to local market costs. Based on the Utah Supreme Court case, Associated General Contractors v. Board of Oil, Gas and Mining, 2001 UT 112, 38 P.3d 291, the Director in this rulemaking proposes to: i) define this term; ii) provide the Division with access to local market expertise from heavy civil contractors or cost estimators who are familiar with local market construction costs in order to review and validate the information submitted by a licensee; and iii) provide that the licensee fund such review costs. The proposed changes to Section R313-25-31 incorporate the mandatory new rule text from S.B. 79. In addition a new section, R313-25-31.5, is being added to include the changes summarized above.