42 U.S.C. § 2021e — Limited availability of certain regional disposal facilities during transition and licensing periods

(a) Availability. (1) From January 1, 1986, through December 31, 1992, and subject to (b)–(g), each State^* containing a regional facility listed in (b)(1)–(3) must make capacity available for waste from pressurized-water and boiling-water commercial reactors according to (c). (2) During the same seven years it must also make capacity available for covered waste from other sources. (3)(A) Waste generated in a sited compact region has priority at the regional facility in that region. (B) Subject to its compact, a facility State may bar outside waste if the year’s total would exceed 100 percent of the facility’s (b) average annual volume. If all three facility States do this, each must allow, as necessary and under its compact procedures, extra amounts in 10-percent increments of its average annual volume. (C) Nothing requires a facility or State to accept more than the (b) totals. (4) If a listed facility stops operating, this section does not require its State to accept waste from any source.

(b) Facility caps. South Carolina may limit Barnwell to 8,400,000 cubic feet over the seven years (1,200,000 per year); Washington may limit Richland to 9,800,000 (1,400,000 per year); and Nevada may limit Beatty to 1,400,000 (200,000 per year), each subject to its compact.

(c) Reactor allocations. (1) On request, each commercial reactor receives capacity during the four-year transition (1986–1989) and three-year licensing period (1990–1992). For each month remaining, multiply the applicable number by the number of months: PWRs receive 1,027 in a sited region or 871 elsewhere during transition, and 934 or 685 during licensing; BWRs receive 2,300 or 1,951 during transition, and 2,091 or 1,533 during licensing. (2) Count from the first month of the period or the 16th month after the full-power license, whichever is later. (3) Unused capacity may be used after the full-power license or period start, whichever is later, but never after December 31, 1992, or after a facility begins operating in the reactor’s region or State, whichever comes first. (4) A compliant reactor may assign its capacity in writing, for payment or otherwise, to anyone in any State or compact region; copies and an unconditional waiver must be filed with affected commissions and States. (5) On the owner^* or operator’s petition, the Secretary^* may give extra capacity if written reasons show unusual or unexpected operations, maintenance, repairs, or safety work requires it. Extra capacity cannot cause more than 800,000 cubic feet for that reactor or make all allocations exceed 11,900,000 cubic feet over the seven-year period. (6) Facilities cannot be required to accept more than 11,900,000 cubic feet from commercial reactors during the interim period.

(d) Surcharges and milestones. (1) Except for waste generated in a sited region, the facility State may add a surcharge: no more than $10 per cubic foot in 1986–1987, $20 in 1988–1989, and $40 in 1990–1992, subject to (e)(2). (2)(A) Twenty-five percent of each such surcharge must be transferred monthly to the Secretary’s special escrow account. The money is not United States property; the Secretary is trustee and must invest it in highest-yield available interest-bearing United States securities. It remains until paid under (B) or (C), or returned to the collecting State under (F). (B) The Secretary pays the escrowed shares under (D) when the generating State or region meets the July 1, 1986; January 1, 1988; January 1, 1990; or January 1, 1993 disposal milestones for the corresponding surcharge period. (C) If by January 1, 1993 a generating State or region cannot dispose of all its waste, each generating State must, on request, take title, possession, and liability as soon as notified the waste is available, or, if it refuses, the 25-percent shares from 1990–1992 must be repaid with interest to the generators monthly beginning February 1, 1993, in 36 equal parts, until disposal is available or January 1, 1996, whichever is earlier. A State taking title gets the (B)(iv) payment. If disposal becomes available after January 1, 1993 and before January 1, 1996, the State or region gets a lump sum under (D), adjusted for remaining months. If it still cannot dispose of all waste by January 1, 1996, each generating State must, on request, take title, possession, and liability as soon as notified. (D) Payments are due within 30 days: to a noncompact generating State or to the compact commission^* serving a compact State. (E) Money may be used only to establish, mitigate impacts of, regulate, or decommission, close, and care for facilities during institutional control. Recipients must report yearly expenditures to Energy on December 31; the Secretary must summarize them for Congress within six months and assess compliance. (F) Escrow money not paid or refunded goes to the collecting State within 30 days after ineligibility for a refund is determined. (G) No rebate is made for a surcharge or penalty surcharge paid while failing (e)(1).

(e) Siting requirements. (1) Each non-sited compact region and each nonmember State without an operating facility must meet the following deadlines. (A) By July 1, 1986, each nonmember State must ratify compact legislation or state by legislation or gubernatorial certification its intent to develop a low-level-radioactive-waste disposal facility within the State. (B) By January 1, 1988, each non-sited compact region must identify the State where its facility will be located or select the facility’s developer and site. The compact region or the State where the facility will be located must develop a detailed siting plan and delegate authority to carry it out. Each nonmember State must instead develop a siting plan with detailed procedures and a schedule for establishing a facility location and preparing a license application, and must delegate authority to carry out that plan. The plan must describe the best way to bring the facility into operation within the deadlines in sections 2021b through 2021j. It must state objectives and deadlines for all entities that must act, identify delays that could delay operation when practicable, and describe processes for broad-area screening, identifying and evaluating candidate sites, characterizing preferred sites, completing environmental assessments, and preparing a license application for the NRC or an Agreement State. (C) By January 1, 1990, a complete license application must be filed for a facility in each non-sited compact region or nonmember State. Alternatively, the Governor, or a State’s chief executive officer if it has no Governor, of a nonmember State that is not in a compact region complying with (C)(i), or that has not complied through its own actions, must give the NRC a written certification that the State will be capable of and will provide for storage, disposal, or management of waste generated in the State that requires disposal after December 31, 1992. The certification must describe the actions that will ensure that capacity exists. (D) By January 1, 1992, a complete license application must be filed for a facility in each non-sited compact region or nonmember State. (E) The NRC must send each certification under (C) to Congress and publish it in the Federal Register. (F) A State may agree with the compact commission of a region containing a regional facility to dispose of all low-level radioactive waste generated in the State. With the facility State’s approval, the State may then be treated as complying with (A), (B), (C), and (D). (2) Penalties for failure to comply. (A) If a State fails to meet (1)(A), generators in that nonmember State are charged twice the otherwise applicable surcharge from July 1 through December 31, 1986, and waste from the State may be denied access to the listed regional facilities on or after January 1, 1987. (B) If a non-sited compact region or nonmember State fails to meet (1)(B), generators there are charged twice the otherwise applicable surcharge from January 1 through June 30, 1988, four times that surcharge from July 1 through December 31, 1988, and waste from there may be denied access on or after January 1, 1989. (C) If a non-sited compact region or nonmember State fails to meet (1)(C), waste from there may be denied access. (D) If a non-sited compact region or nonmember State fails to meet (1)(D), generators there are charged three times the otherwise applicable surcharge from January 1, 1992, until the application is filed. (3) No denial or suspension of access may be based on the waste’s source, class, or type. (4) Suspended access must be restored, and surcharge penalties must end, when the region or State complies with the requirement.

(f) Monitoring and confidentiality. A facility State and compact commission may monitor these limits, allocations, and requirements and deny facility access to waste exceeding them or waste not required to be accepted because of (e) noncompliance. South Carolina, Washington, and Nevada may demand reasonably necessary information from operators, generators, handlers, and DOE and, after written notice and at least 30 days, deny access to a generator or handler that refuses. Trade secrets and confidential information may be supplied only if the State agrees in writing to limit disclosure to people directly involved and needing to know, accepts liability for wrongful disclosure, and shows the information is essential. The United States is not liable for an individual’s or State’s wrongful disclosure. Recipients are subject to the same disclosure laws that would apply to Federal officers, employees, or agencies; a State officer or employee cannot be compelled under State law to disclose information received under these sections.

(g) Nondiscrimination. Except for (b)–(e), waste disposed of under this section is subject without discrimination to the facility region’s and State’s applicable legal requirements as if generated there.