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Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-110

§10245 Site Characterization; Licensing

Title 42 › CHAPTER 108 — NUCLEAR WASTE POLICY › SUBCHAPTER IV — NUCLEAR WASTE NEGOTIATOR › § 10245

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

When Congress passes a law to carry out an agreement to place a repository at a chosen site, the Secretary must do site studies for that site under the agreement’s terms. The studies must follow the rules in section 10133, but whenever that rule mentions Yucca Mountain or the State of Nevada, treat those words as meaning the agreed site and the State or Indian tribe that made the agreement. After the studies are done, the Secretary must send a construction authorization application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Commission must review the application under the usual law for such permits (for a repository or a monitored retrievable storage facility) and must make a final approve-or-deny decision within 3 years after the application is filed.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §10245

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

(a)Site characterization
Upon enactment of legislation to implement an agreement to site a repository negotiated under section 10243(a) of this title, the Secretary shall conduct appropriate site characterization activities for the site that is the subject of such agreement subject to the conditions and terms of such agreement. Any such site characterization activities shall be conducted in accordance with section 10133 of this title, except that references in such section to the Yucca Mountain site and the State of Nevada shall be deemed to refer to the site that is the subject of the agreement and the State or Indian tribe entering into the agreement.
(b)Licensing
(1)Upon the completion of site characterization activities carried out under subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission an application for construction authorization for a repository at such site.
(2)The Nuclear Regulatory Commission shall consider an application for a construction authorization for a repository or monitored retrievable storage facility in accordance with the laws applicable to such applications, except that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission shall issue a final decision approving or disapproving the issuance of a construction authorization not later than 3 years after the date of the submission of such application.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Pub. L. 100–202 and Pub. L. 100–203 added identical sections.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 10245

Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110