Certain standards and criteria
Environmental Protection Agency standards
Commission requirements and criteria
Not later than
applications for authorization to construct repositories;
applications for licenses to receive and possess spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in such repositories; and
applications for authorization for closure and decommissioning of such repositories.
Such criteria shall provide for the use of a system of multiple barriers in the design of the repository and shall include such restrictions on the retrievability of the solidified high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel emplaced in the repository as the Commission deems appropriate.
Such requirements and criteria shall not be inconsistent with any comparable standards promulgated by the Administrator under subsection (a).
For purposes of this chapter, nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the Commission from promulgating requirements and criteria under paragraph (1) before the Administrator promulgates standards under subsection (a). If the Administrator promulgates standards under subsection (a) after requirements and criteria are promulgated by the Commission under paragraph (1), such requirements and criteria shall be revised by the Commission if necessary to comply with paragraph (1)(C).
Environmental impact statement
Notes
References in Text
Nuclear Waste Storage and Disposal at Yucca Mountain Site
Environmental Protection Agency Standards.—
Promulgation.—
Notwithstanding the provisions of section 121(a) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10141(a)), section 161 b. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2201(b)), and any other authority of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to set generally applicable standards for the Yucca Mountain site, the Administrator shall, based upon and consistent with the findings and recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences, promulgate, by rule, public health and safety standards for protection of the public from releases from radioactive materials stored or disposed of in the repository at the Yucca Mountain site. Such standards shall prescribe the maximum annual effective dose equivalent to individual members of the public from releases to the accessible environment from radioactive materials stored or disposed of in the repository. The standards shall be promulgated not later than 1 year after the Administrator receives the findings and recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences under paragraph (2) and shall be the only such standards applicable to the Yucca Mountain site.
Study by national academy of sciences.—
Within 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [
whether a health-based standard based upon doses to individual members of the public from releases to the accessible environment (as that term is defined in the regulations contained in subpart B of part 191 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on
whether it is reasonable to assume that a system for post-closure oversight of the repository can be developed, based upon active institutional controls, that will prevent an unreasonable risk of breaching the repository’s engineered or geologic barriers or increasing the exposure of individual members of the public to radiation beyond allowable limits; and
whether it is possible to make scientifically supportable predictions of the probability that the repository’s engineered or geologic barriers will be breached as a result of human intrusion over a period of 10,000 years.
Applicability.—
The provisions of this section shall apply to the Yucca Mountain site, rather than any other authority of the Administrator to set generally applicable standards for radiation protection.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Requirements and Criteria.—
Modifications.—
Not later than 1 year after the Administrator promulgates standards under subsection (a), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission shall, by rule, modify its technical requirements and criteria under section 121(b) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10141(b)), as necessary, to be consistent with the Administrator’s standards promulgated under subsection (a).
Required assumptions.—
The Commission’s requirements and criteria shall assume, to the extent consistent with the findings and recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences, that, following repository closure, the inclusion of engineered barriers and the Secretary’s post-closure oversight of the Yucca Mountain site, in accordance with subsection (c), shall be sufficient to—
prevent any activity at the site that poses an unreasonable risk of breaching the repository’s engineered or geologic barriers; and
prevent any increase in the exposure of individual members of the public to radiation beyond allowable limits.
Post-Closure Oversight.—
Following repository closure, the Secretary of Energy shall continue to oversee the Yucca Mountain site to prevent any activity at the site that poses an unreasonable risk of—
breaching the repository’s engineered or geologic barriers; or
increasing the exposure of individual members of the public to radiation beyond allowable limits.”