Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 96 Part 2.djvu/851

 PUBLIC LAW 97-425—JAN. 7, 1983

96 STAT. 2213

SITE APPROVAL AND CONSTRUCTION AUTHORIZATION SEC. 114. (a) HEARINGS AND PRESIDENTIAL RECOMMENDATION.—(1)

The Secretary shall hold public hearings in the vicinity of each site under consideration for recommendation to the President under this paragraph as a site for the development of a repository, for the purposes of informing the residents of the area in which such site is located of such consideration and receiving their comments regarding the possible recommendation of such site. If, upon completion of such hearings and completion of site characterization activities at not less than 3 candidate sites for the first proposed repository, or from all of the characterized sites for the development of subsequent respositories, under section 113, the Secretary decides to recommend approval of such site to the President, the Secretary shall notify the Governor and legislature of the State in which such site is located, or the governing body of the affected Indian tribe where such site is located, as the case may be, of such decision. No sooner than the expiration of the 30-day period following such notification, the Secretary shall submit to the President a recommendation that the President approve such site for the development of a repository. Any such recommendation by the Secretary shall be based on the record of information developed by the Secretary under section 113 and this section, including the information described in subparagraph (A) through subparagraph (G). In making site recommendations and approvals subsequent to the first site recommendation, the Secretary and the President, respectively, shall also consider the need for regional distribution of repositories and the need to minimize, to the extent practicable, the impacts and cost of transporting spent fuel and solidified high-level radioactive waste. Together with any recommendation of a site under this paragraph, the Secretary shall make available to the public, and submit to the President, a comprehensive statement of the basis of such recommendation, including the following: (A) a description of the proposed repository, including preliminary engineering specifications for the facility; (B) a description of the waste form or packaging proposed for use at such repository, and an explanation of the relationship between such waste form or packaging and the geologic medium of such site; (C) a discussion of data, obtained in site characterization activities, relating to the safety of such site; (D) a final environmental impact statement prepared pursuant to subsection (f) and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), including an analysis of the consideration given by the Secretary to not less than 3 candidate sites for the first proposed respository or to all of the characterized sites for the development of subsequent repositories, with respect to which site characterization is completed under section 113, together with comments made concerning such environmental impact statement by the Secretary of the Interior, the Council on Environmental Quality, the Administrator, and the Commission, except that any such environmental impact statement concerning the first repository to be developed under this Act shall not be required to consider the need for a repository or the alternatives to geologic disposal; (E) preliminary comments of the Commission concerning the extent to which the at-depth site characterization analysis and

42 USC 10134.

Notification of decision.

Public availability.

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