Notwithstanding the provisions of section 10107 of this title, upon any decision by the Secretary or the President to develop a repository for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste or spent nuclear fuel resulting exclusively from atomic energy defense activities, research and development activities of the Secretary, or both, and before proceeding with any site-specific investigations with respect to such repository, the Secretary shall notify the Governor and legislature of the State in which such repository is proposed to be located, or the governing body of the affected Indian tribe on whose reservation such repository is proposed to be located, as the case may be, of such decision.
Following the receipt of any notification under subsection (a), the State or Indian tribe involved shall be entitled, with respect to the proposed repository involved, to rights of participation and consultation identical to those provided in sections 10135 through 10138 of this title, except that any financial assistance authorized to be provided to such State or affected Indian tribe under section 10136(c) or 10138(b) of this title shall be made from amounts appropriated to the Secretary for purposes of carrying out this section.
42 U.S.C. § 10121
- Governor
- The term "Governor" means the chief executive officer of a State.
- Indian tribe
- The term "Indian tribe" means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community of Indians recognized as eligible for the services provided to Indians by the Secretary of the Interior because of their status as Indians, including any Alaska Native village, as defined in section 3(c) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602(c)).
- Secretary
- The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of Energy.
- State
- The term "State" means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and any other territory or possession of the United States.
- affected Indian tribe
- The term "affected Indian tribe" means any Indian tribe-(A) within whose reservation boundaries a monitored retrievable storage facility, test and evaluation facility, or a repository for high-level radioactive waste or spent fuel is proposed to be located;(B) whose federally defined possessory or usage rights to other lands outside of the reservation's boundaries arising out of congressionally ratified treaties may be substantially and adversely affected by the locating of such a facility: Provided, That the Secretary of the Interior finds, upon the petition of the appropriate governmental officials of the tribe, that such effects are both substantial and adverse to the tribe;1
- disposal
- The term "disposal" means the emplacement in a repository of high-level radioactive waste, spent nuclear fuel, or other highly radioactive material with no foreseeable intent of recovery, whether or not such emplacement permits the recovery of such waste.
- high-level radioactive waste
- The term "high-level radioactive waste" means-(A) the highly radioactive material resulting from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, including liquid waste produced directly in reprocessing and any solid material derived from such liquid waste that contains fission products in sufficient concentrations; and(B) other highly radioactive material that the Commission, consistent with existing law, determines by rule requires permanent isolation.
- repository
- The term "repository" means any system licensed by the Commission that is intended to be used for, or may be used for, the permanent deep geologic disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, whether or not such system is designed to permit the recovery, for a limited period during initial operation, of any materials placed in such system. Such term includes both surface and subsurface areas at which high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel handling activities are conducted.
- reservation
- The term "reservation" means-(A) any Indian reservation or dependent Indian community referred to in clause (a) or (b) of section 1151 of title 18; or(B) any land selected by an Alaska Native village or regional corporation under the provisions of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.).
- spent nuclear fuel
- The term "spent nuclear fuel" means fuel that has been withdrawn from a nuclear reactor following irradiation, the constituent elements of which have not been separated by reprocessing.