§7915 Indian Tribe Cooperative Agreements

Summary

After telling the tribe about the designation under section 7912 and talking with the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary may make a cooperative agreement under section 7923 with a tribe to clean up a designated processing site on tribal land. The Secretary must follow the cleanup priorities in section 7912 when possible. The work should use qualified tribe members nearby when it can. Agreements must include terms the Secretary finds proper and must require: the tribe and landowners to sign waivers releasing and holding the United States harmless; the cleanup be chosen and done by the Secretary or a person the Secretary names under section 7918; and that the Secretary, the Commission, the Administrator, and their reps have a permanent right to enter the site to inspect, carry out the agreement, and enforce rules. An agreement only takes effect if the Commission agrees. If the Secretary and the Commission decide removal is appropriate, the Secretary must provide one or more sites for permanent, safe disposal and stabilization of the leftover radioactive materials. Those materials are transferred to the Secretary of the Interior at no cost and kept and maintained permanently under a Commission license, subject to sections 7914(f)(2) and (h).