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Public Act 91-0601
HB0095 Enrolled LRB9100625ACsb
AN ACT to amend the Illinois Low-Level Radioactive Waste
Management Act by changing Sections 10.2 and 11.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Illinois Low-Level Radioactive Waste
Management Act is amended by changing Sections 10.2 and 11 as
follows:
(420 ILCS 20/10.2) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 241-10.2)
Sec. 10.2. Creation of Low-Level Radioactive Waste Task
Group; adoption of criteria; selection of site for
characterization.
(a) There is hereby created the Low-Level Radioactive
Waste Task Group consisting of the Directors of the
Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Natural
Resources, and the Department of Nuclear Safety (or their
designees) and 6 additional members designated by the
Governor. The 6 additional members shall:
(1) be confirmed by the Senate; and
(2) receive compensation of $300 per day for their
services on the Task Group unless they are officers or
employees of the State, in which case they shall receive
no additional compensation.
Four of the additional members shall have expertise in
the field of geology, hydrogeology, or hydrology. Of the 2
remaining additional members, one shall be a member of the
public with experience in environmental matters and one shall
have at least 5 years experience in local government. The
Directors of the Environmental Protection Agency, the
Department of Natural Resources, and the Department of
Nuclear Safety (or their designees) shall receive no
additional compensation for their service on the Task Group.
All members of the Task Group shall be compensated for their
expenses. The Governor shall designate the chairman of the
Task Group. Upon adoption of the criteria under subsection
(b) of this Section, the Directors of the Department of
Nuclear Safety and the Environmental Protection Agency shall
be replaced on the Task Group by members designated by the
Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The members designated
to replace the Directors of the Department of Nuclear Safety
and the Environmental Protection Agency shall have such
expertise as the Governor may determine. The members of the
Task Group shall be members until they resign, are replaced
by the Governor, or the Task Group is abolished. Except as
provided in this Act, the Task Group shall be subject to the
Open Meetings Act and the Illinois Administrative Procedure
Act. Any action required to be taken by the Task Group under
this Act shall be taken by a majority vote of its members. An
identical vote by 5 members of the Task Group shall
constitute a majority vote.
(b) To protect the public health, safety and welfare,
the Task Group shall develop proposed criteria for selection
of a site for a regional disposal facility. Principal
criteria shall relate to the geographic, geologic,
seismologic, tectonic, hydrologic, and other scientific
conditions best suited for a regional disposal facility.
Supplemental criteria may relate to land use (including (i)
the location of existing underground mines and (ii) the
exclusion of State parks, State conservation areas, and other
State owned lands identified by the Task Group), economics,
transportation, meteorology, and any other matter identified
by the Task Group as relating to desirable conditions for a
regional disposal facility. All of the criteria shall be as
specific as possible.
The chairman of the Task Group shall publish a notice of
availability of the proposed criteria in the State newspaper,
make copies of the proposed criteria available without charge
to the public, and hold public hearings to receive comments
on the proposed criteria. Written comments on the proposed
criteria may be submitted to the chairman of the Task Group
within a time period to be determined by the Task Group.
Upon completion of the review of timely submitted comments on
the proposed criteria, the Task Group shall adopt criteria
for selection of a site for a regional disposal facility.
Adoption of the criteria is not subject to the Illinois
Administrative Procedure Act. The chairman of the Task Group
shall provide copies of the criteria to the Governor, the
President and Minority Leader of the Senate, the Speaker and
Minority Leader of the House, and all county boards in the
State of Illinois and shall make copies of the criteria
available without charge to the public.
(c) Upon adoption of the criteria, the Director of
Natural Resources shall direct the Scientific Surveys to
screen the State of Illinois. By September 30, 1997, the
Scientific Surveys shall (i) complete a Statewide screening
of the State using available information and the Surveys'
geography-based information system to produce individual and
composite maps showing the application of individual
criteria; (ii) complete the evaluation of all land
volunteered before the effective date of this amendatory Act
of 1997 to determine whether any of the volunteered land
appears likely to satisfy the criteria; (iii) document the
results of the screening and volunteer site evaluations in a
written report and submit the report to the chairman of the
Task Group and to the Director; and (iv) transmit to the Task
Group and to the Department, in a form specified by the Task
Group and the Department, all information and documents
assembled by the Scientific Surveys in performing the
obligations of the Scientific Surveys under this Act. Upon
completion of the screening and volunteer site evaluation
process, the Director of the Department of Natural Resources
shall be replaced on the Task Group by a member appointed by
the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The member
appointed to replace the Director of the Department of
Natural Resources shall have expertise that the Governor
determines to be appropriate.
(c-3) By December 1, 2000, Within 24 months after the
submittal of the report and documents by the Scientific
Surveys under subsection (c) of this Section, the Department,
in consultation with the Task Group, waste generators, and
any interested counties and municipalities and after holding
3 public hearings throughout the State, shall prepare a
report regarding, at a minimum, the impact and ramifications,
if any, of the following factors and circumstances on the
siting, design, licensure, development, construction,
operation, closure, and post-closure care of a regional
disposal facility:
(1) the federal, state, and regional programs for
the siting, development, and operation of disposal
facilities for low-level radioactive wastes and the
nature, extent, and likelihood of any legislative or
administrative changes to those programs;
(2) (blank) the impacts of restrictions and
surcharges on disposal of low-level radioactive waste at
commercial disposal facilities outside the State of
Illinois;
(3) the current and most reliable projections
regarding the costs of the siting, design, development,
construction, operation, closure, decommissioning, and
post-closure care of a regional disposal facility;
(4) the current and most reliable estimates of the
total volume of low-level radioactive waste that will be
disposed at a regional disposal facility in Illinois and
the projected annual volume amounts;
(5) the nature and extent of the available, if any,
storage and disposal facilities outside the region of the
Compact for storage and disposal of low-level radioactive
waste generated from within the region of the Compact;
and
(6) the development and implementation of a
voluntary site selection process in which land may be
volunteered for the regional disposal facility jointly by
landowners and (i) the municipality in which the land is
located, (ii) every municipality within 1 1/2 miles of
the land if the land is not within a municipality, or
(iii) the county or counties in which the land is located
if the land is not within a municipality and not within 1
1/2 miles of a municipality. The Director shall provide
copies of the report to the Governor, the President and
Minority Leader of the Senate, and the Speaker and
Minority Leader of the House. The Director shall also
publish a notice of availability of the report in the
State newspaper and make copies of the report available
without charge to the public.
(c-5) Following submittal of the report pursuant to
subsection (c-3) of this Section, the Department may shall
adopt rules establishing a site selection process for the
regional disposal facility. The site selection process
established by rule under this subsection shall require the
contractor selected by the Department pursuant to Sections 5
and 10 of this Act to propose one site to the Task Group for
approval under subsections (d) through (i) of this Section
and In developing rules, the Department shall also, at a
minimum, consider require the following:
(1) A comprehensive and open process under which
the land for sites recommended and proposed by the
contractor under subsection (e) of this Section shall be
volunteered lands as provided in this Section. Land may
be volunteered for the regional disposal facility jointly
by landowners and (i) the municipality in which the land
is located, (ii) every municipality with 1 1/2 miles of
the land if the land is not within a municipality, or
(iii) the county or counties in which the land is located
if the land is not within a municipality and not within 1
1/2 miles of a municipality.
(2) Utilization of the State screening and
volunteer site evaluation report prepared by the
Scientific Surveys under subsection (c) of this Section
for the purpose of determining whether proposed sites
appear likely to satisfy the site selection criteria.
(3) Coordination of the site selection process with
the projected annual and total volume of low-level
radioactive waste to be disposed at the regional disposal
facility as identified in the report prepared under
subsection (c-3) of this Section.
The site selection process established under this
subsection shall require the contractor selected by the
Department pursuant to Sections 5 and 10 of this Act to
propose one site to the Task Group for approval under
subsections (d) through (i) of this Section.
(4) No proposed site shall be selected as the site for
the regional disposal facility unless it satisfies the site
selection criteria established by the Task Group under
subsection (b) of this Section.
(d) The contractor selected by the Department under
Sections 5 and 10 of this Act shall conduct evaluations,
including possible intrusive field investigations, of the
sites and locations identified under the site selection
process established under subsection (c-5) of this Section.
(e) Upon completion of the site evaluations, the
contractor selected by the Department shall identify one site
of at least 640 acres that appears promising for development
of the regional disposal facility in compliance with the site
selection criteria established by the Task Group pursuant to
subsection (b) of this Section. The contractor may conduct
any other evaluation of the site identified under this
subsection that the contractor deems appropriate to determine
whether the site satisfies the criteria adopted under
subsection (b) of this Section. Upon completion of the
evaluations under this subsection, the contractor shall
prepare and submit to the Department a report on the
evaluation of the identified site, including a recommendation
as to whether the identified site should be further
considered for selection as a site for the regional disposal
facility. A site so recommended for further consideration is
hereinafter referred to as a "proposed site".
(f) A report completed under subsection (e) of this
Section that recommends a proposed site shall also be
submitted to the chairman of the Task Group. Within 45 days
following receipt of a report, the chairman of the Task Group
shall publish in newspapers of general circulation in the
county or counties in which a proposed site is located a
notice of the availability of the report and a notice of a
public meeting. The chairman of the Task Group shall also,
within the 45-day period, provide copies of the report and
the notice to the Governor, the President and Minority Leader
of the Senate, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House,
members of the General Assembly from the legislative district
or districts in which a proposed site is located, the county
board or boards of the county or counties containing a
proposed site, and each city, village, and incorporated town
within a 5 mile radius of a proposed site. The chairman of
the Task Group shall make copies of the report available
without charge to the public.
(g) The chairman of the Task Group shall convene at
least one public meeting on each proposed site. At the
public meeting or meetings, the contractor selected by the
Department shall present the results of the evaluation of the
proposed site. The Task Group shall receive such other
written and oral information about the proposed site that may
be submitted at the meeting. Following the meeting, the Task
Group shall decide whether the proposed site satisfies the
criteria adopted under subsection (b) of this Section. If
the Task Group determines that the proposed site does not
satisfy the criteria, the Department may require a contractor
to submit a further report pursuant to subsection (e) of this
Section proposing another site from the locations identified
under the site selection process established pursuant to
subsection (c-5) of this Section as likely to satisfy the
criteria. Following notice and distribution of the report as
required by subsection (f) of this Section, the new proposed
site shall be the subject of a public meeting under this
subsection. The contractor selected by the Department shall
propose additional sites, and the Task Group shall conduct
additional public meetings, until the Task Group has approved
a proposed site recommended by a contractor as satisfying the
criteria adopted under subsection (b) of this Section. In
the event that the Task Group does not approve any of the
proposed sites recommended by the contractor under this
subsection as satisfying the criteria adopted under
subsection (b) of this Section, the Task Group shall
immediately suspend all work and the Department shall prepare
a study containing, at a minimum, the Department's
recommendations regarding the viability of the site selection
process established pursuant to this Act, based on the
factors and circumstances specified in items (1) through (6)
of subsection (c-3) of Section 10.2. The Department shall
provide copies of the study to the Governor, the President
and Minority Leader of the Senate, and the Speaker and
Minority Leader of the House. The Department shall also
publish a notice of availability of the study in the State
newspaper and make copies of the report available without
charge to the public.
(h) (Blank).
(i) Upon the Task Group's decision that a proposed site
satisfies the criteria adopted under subsection (b) of this
Section, the contractor shall proceed with the
characterization and licensure of the proposed site under
Section 10.3 of this Act and the Task Group shall immediately
suspend all work, except as otherwise specifically required
in subsection (b) of Section 10.3 of this Act.
(Source: P.A. 89-445, eff. 2-7-96; 89-479, eff. 6-18-96;
90-29, eff. 6-26-97.)
(420 ILCS 20/11) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 241-11)
Sec. 11. Report by the Department.
(a) (Blank).
(b) (Blank) No later than March 31, 1993, the Department
shall deliver to the Governor, the President and Minority
Leader of the Senate, and the Speaker and Minority Leader of
the House a report on the impacts of restrictions and
surcharges on disposal of low-level radioactive waste at
commercial disposal facilities outside the State of Illinois.
The report shall include the Department's recommendations
with regard to the need for additional interim storage
capacity and with regard to a new process for the timely and
cost effective establishment of a permanent disposal
facility.
(c) At any time necessary, as determined by the
Director, to ensure proper planning and policy responses
relating to the continued availability of facilities for the
storage and disposal of low-level radioactive wastes, the
Department shall deliver to the Governor, the President and
Minority Leader of the Senate, and the Speaker and Minority
Leader of the House a report updating the report submitted
pursuant to subsection (b) of this Section. The updated
report required by this subsection that shall include, at a
minimum, an updated analysis of the impacts of restrictions
and surcharges on disposal of low-level radioactive waste at
commercial disposal facilities outside the State of Illinois
and the Department's analysis of, and recommendations
regarding, the feasibility of a centralized interim storage
facility for low-level radioactive waste generated within the
region of the Compact and the nature and extent, if any, of
the generator's or any other entity's responsibility for or
title to the waste to be stored at a centralized interim
storage facility after the waste has been delivered to that
facility.
(Source: P.A. 90-29, eff. 6-26-97.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.
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