Title 42 — The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73not60

§10221 Mission Plan

Title 42 › Chapter 108— NUCLEAR WASTE POLICY › Subchapter III— OTHER PROVISIONS RELATING TO RADIOACTIVE WASTE › § 10221

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary must write a mission plan that gives enough information for decisions about the repository work and related research, development, and testing. The plan must cover 11 topic areas, including the main science and engineering information needed for siting and building test facilities and repositories; what important information is still missing and a schedule with major milestones and cost estimates to get it; any financial, political, legal, or institutional problems and how to fix them; the purpose of the test facility; results of past research and how different types of rock or geology compare; the guidelines under section 10132(a); descriptions of known candidate sites and plans for digging, testing (with or without radioactive material), safety controls, and cleanup if a site is unsuitable; plans and analysis for turning waste into solid form and packaging spent fuel, materials needed, and an R&D plan to produce strong disposal containers; an estimate of total repository capacity needed to take all high-level waste and spent fuel expected through December 31, 2020 (with and without commercial reprocessing), how many and what kinds of repositories would be needed, their construction schedule, and how long each would accept waste; annual cost estimates to build and run the repositories and other needed facilities; and possible economic and other harms to the State or Indian tribe where a site might be located. Not later than 15 months after January 7, 1983, the Secretary must send a draft plan to States, affected Indian tribes, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and other agencies for comments. Those agencies must state any objections clearly. The Secretary must publish notice in the Federal Register when the plan is submitted and when comments are received, and must publish a detailed statement if the plan is not changed to meet objections. After reviewing comments and making any changes, the Secretary must send the mission plan to the proper Congressional committees not later than 17 months after January 7, 1983. Congress will have the first period of 30 calendar days after it receives the plan (not including days when either House is not in session because of an adjournment of more than 3 calendar days to a day certain) to act on it.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §10221

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary shall prepare a comprehensive report, to be known as the mission plan, which shall provide an informational basis sufficient to permit informed decisions to be made in carrying out the repository program and the research, development, and demonstration programs required under this chapter. The mission plan shall include—

(1)an identification of the primary scientific, engineering, and technical information, including any necessary demonstration of engineering or systems integration, with respect to the siting and construction of a test and evaluation facility and repositories;

(2)an identification of any information described in paragraph (1) that is not available because of any unresolved scientific, engineering, or technical questions, or undemonstrated engineering or systems integration, a schedule including specific major milestones for the research, development, and technology demonstration program required under this chapter and any additional activities to be undertaken to provide such information, a schedule for the activities necessary to achieve important programmatic milestones, and an estimate of the costs required to carry out such research, development, and demonstration programs;

(3)an evaluation of financial, political, legal, or institutional problems that may impede the implementation of this chapter, the plans of the Secretary to resolve such problems, and recommendations for any necessary legislation to resolve such problems;

(4)any comments of the Secretary with respect to the purpose and program of the test and evaluation facility;

(5)a discussion of the significant results of research and development programs conducted and the implications for each of the different geologic media under consideration for the siting of repositories, and, on the basis of such information, a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of such media for repository sites;

(6)the guidelines issued under section 10132(a) of this title;

(7)a description of known sites at which site characterization activities should be undertaken, a description of such siting characterization activities, including the extent of planned excavations, plans for onsite testing with radioactive or nonradioactive material, plans for any investigations activities which may affect the capability of any such site to isolate high-level radioactive waste or spent nuclear fuel, plans to control any adverse, safety-related impacts from such site characterization activities, and plans for the decontamination and decommissioning of such site if it is determined unsuitable for licensing as a repository;

(8)an identification of the process for solidifying high-level radioactive waste or packaging spent nuclear fuel, including a summary and analysis of the data to support the selection of the solidification process and packaging techniques, an analysis of the requirements for the number of solidification packaging facilities needed, a description of the state of the art for the materials proposed to be used in packaging such waste or spent fuel and the availability of such materials including impacts on strategic supplies and any requirements for new or reactivated facilities to produce any such materials needed, and a description of a plan, and the schedule for implementing such plan, for an aggressive research and development program to provide when needed a high-integrity disposal package at a reasonable price;

(9)an estimate of (A) the total repository capacity required to safely accommodate the disposal of all high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel expected to be generated through December 31, 2020, in the event that no commercial reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel occurs, as well as the repository capacity that will be required if such reprocessing does occur; (B) the number and type of repositories required to be constructed to provide such disposal capacity; (C) a schedule for the construction of such repositories; and (D) an estimate of the period during which each repository listed in such schedule will be accepting high-level radioactive waste or spent nuclear fuel for disposal;

(10)an estimate, on an annual basis, of the costs required (A) to construct and operate the repositories anticipated to be needed under paragraph (9) based on each of the assumptions referred to in such paragraph; (B) to construct and operate a test and evaluation facility, or any other facilities, other than repositories described in subparagraph (A), determined to be necessary; and (C) to carry out any other activities under this chapter; and

(11)an identification of the possible adverse economic and other impacts to the State or Indian tribe involved that may arise from the development of a test and evaluation facility or repository at a site.

(b)(1)Not later than 15 months after January 7, 1983, the Secretary shall submit a draft mission plan to the States, the affected Indian tribes, the Commission, and other Government agencies as the Secretary deems appropriate for their comments.

(2)In preparing any comments on the mission plan, such agencies shall specify with precision any objections that they may have. Upon submission of the mission plan to such agencies, the Secretary shall publish a notice in the Federal Register of the submission of the mission plan and of its availability for public inspection, and, upon receipt of any comments of such agencies respecting the mission plan, the Secretary shall publish a notice in the Federal Register of the receipt of comments and of the availability of the comments for public inspection. If the Secretary does not revise the mission plan to meet objections specified in such comments, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register a detailed statement for not so revising the mission plan.

(3)The Secretary, after reviewing any other comments made by such agencies and revising the mission plan to the extent that the Secretary may consider to be appropriate, shall submit the mission plan to the appropriate committees of the Congress not later than 17 months after January 7, 1983. The mission plan shall be used by the Secretary at the end of the first period of 30 calendar days (not including any day on which either House of Congress is not in session because of adjournment of more than 3 calendar days to a day certain) following receipt of the mission plan by the Congress.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 10221

Title 42 — The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60