42 U.S.C. § 2286d — Board recommendations

(a) Submission of recommendations (1) Subject to subsections (h) and (i), no later than 30 days before the Board sends a recommendation to the Secretary^* of Energy under section 2286a, the Board must send the Secretary a written draft of the recommendation and any related findings, supporting data, and analyses. This must give the Secretary enough information about the formal recommendation and an opportunity to give the Board input before the recommendation is finalized. (2) The Secretary may send the Board comments on the draft within 30 days after receiving it. At the Secretary’s request, the Board may give the Secretary more time to send comments. (3) After the time for the Secretary’s comments ends, the Board may send a final recommendation to the Secretary. (b) Public availability and comment Subject to subsections (h) and (i), after the Secretary receives a recommendation from the Board under subsection (a)(3), the Board must promptly make the recommendation and any related correspondence from the Secretary available to the public by—(1) providing them in the Department of Energy’s regional public reading rooms; and (2) publishing them in the Federal Register, along with a request for public comments on the recommendation. The request must give interested persons 30 days after publication to submit comments, data, views, or arguments to the Board about the recommendation. (c) Response by Secretary (1) The Secretary must send the Board a written statement saying whether the Secretary accepts or rejects, in whole or in part, the Board’s recommendations under section 2286a. The statement must describe the actions the Secretary will take in response and give the Secretary’s views on the recommendations. The Secretary must send this response within 45 days after the notice about the recommendations is published under subsection (b), or within an additional period of up to 45 days that the Board may grant. (2) At the same time the Secretary sends the response to the Board under paragraph (1), and subject to subsection (i), the Secretary must publish the response and a request for public comments on it in the Federal Register. (3) Interested persons have 30 days after publication of the Secretary’s response to submit comments, data, views, or arguments to the Board about the response. (4) The Board may hold hearings to obtain public comments on its recommendations and the Secretary’s response. (d) Provision of information to Secretary The Board must give the Secretary copies of all comments, data, views, and arguments submitted to it under subsection (b) or (c). (e) Final decision If the Secretary rejects all or part of a Board recommendation in a response under subsection (c)(1), the Board must either reaffirm its original recommendation or make a revised recommendation and notify the Secretary of its action. Within 30 days after receiving that notice, the Secretary must consider the Board’s action and make a final decision about whether to implement all or part of the Board’s recommendations. Subject to subsection (i), the Secretary must publish the final decision and the reasons for it in the Federal Register. The Secretary must also send a written report containing the decision and reasons to the Committees on Armed Services, Appropriations, and Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committees on Armed Services, Appropriations, and Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate. (f) Implementation plan The Secretary must prepare an implementation plan for each Board recommendation, or part of a recommendation, that the Secretary accepts in the final decision. The Secretary must send the plan to the Board within 90 days after the final decision is published in the Federal Register. The Secretary may have 45 additional days if the Secretary sends the Board and the specified House and Senate committees a notice explaining the delay and describing the actions being taken to prepare the plan. The Secretary may implement the recommendation, or part of it, before, on, or after the date the Secretary sends the plan to the Board. (g) Implementation (1) Subject to paragraph (2), no later than one year after the Secretary sends an implementation plan for a recommendation, or part of one, under subsection (f), the Secretary must carry out and complete the plan. If completing the plan takes more than one year, the Secretary must send the specified House and Senate committees a report explaining the delay and stating when implementation will be complete. (2) If the Secretary determines that implementing a Board recommendation, or part of one, is impracticable because of budget considerations, or that implementation would affect the Secretary’s ability to meet the annual nuclear-weapons stockpile requirements established under section 2121, the Secretary must send the President and the specified committees a report containing the recommendation and the Secretary’s determination. (h) Imminent or severe threat (1) If the Board determines that a recommendation submitted to the Secretary under section 2286a concerns an imminent or severe threat to public health and safety, the Board and the Secretary must follow this subsection instead of subsections (a) through (e). (2) At the same time the Board sends the recommendation to the Secretary, it must also send it to the President and, for information, to the Secretary of Defense. The Secretary must submit the Secretary’s recommendation to the President. The President must review it and decide whether to accept or reject the Board’s recommendation. (3) After the President receives the Board’s recommendation under this subsection, the Board must promptly make it available to the public and send it to the specified House and Senate committees. The President must promptly notify those committees of the President’s decision and the reasons for it. (i) Limitation Despite any other provision of this section, the requirements under this section to make information available to the public—(1) do not apply to classified information; and (2) are subject to the orders and regulations issued by the Secretary of Energy under sections 2167 and 2168 to prohibit dissemination of certain information.