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90_SB0431
420 ILCS 20/10.2 from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 241-10.2
Amends the Illinois Low-Level Radioactive Waste
Management Act to allow the governing authority of a county,
city, village, or incorporated town to reject a site
identified by the Illinois State Geological and Water Surveys
as a potential regional low-level radioactive waste disposal
facility site if all or a portion of the site is located
within the boundaries of the county, city, village, or
incorporated town. Effective immediately.
LRB9001060DPcc
LRB9001060DPcc
1 AN ACT to amend the Illinois Low-Level Radioactive Waste
2 Management Act by changing Section 10.2.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The Illinois Low-Level Radioactive Waste
6 Management Act is amended by changing Section 10.2 as
7 follows:
8 (420 ILCS 20/10.2) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 241-10.2)
9 Sec. 10.2. Creation of Low-Level Radioactive Waste Task
10 Group; adoption of criteria; selection of site for
11 characterization.
12 (a) There is hereby created the Low-Level Radioactive
13 Waste Task Group consisting of the Directors of the
14 Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Natural
15 Resources, and the Department of Nuclear Safety (or their
16 designees) and 6 additional members designated by the
17 Governor. The 6 additional members shall:
18 (1) be confirmed by the Senate; and
19 (2) receive compensation of $300 per day for their
20 services on the Task Group unless they are officers or
21 employees of the State, in which case they shall receive
22 no additional compensation.
23 Four of the additional members shall have expertise in
24 the field of geology, hydrogeology, or hydrology. Of the 2
25 remaining additional members, one shall be a member of the
26 public with experience in environmental matters and one shall
27 have at least 5 years experience in local government. The
28 Directors of the Environmental Protection Agency, the
29 Department of Natural Resources, and the Department of
30 Nuclear Safety (or their designees) shall receive no
31 additional compensation for their service on the Task Group.
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1 All members of the Task Group shall be compensated for their
2 expenses. The Governor shall designate the chairman of the
3 Task Group. Upon adoption of the criteria under subsection
4 (b), the Directors of the Department of Nuclear Safety and
5 the Environmental Protection Agency shall be replaced on the
6 Task Group by members designated by the Governor and
7 confirmed by the Senate. The members designated to replace
8 the Directors of the Department of Nuclear Safety and the
9 Environmental Protection Agency shall have such expertise as
10 the Governor may determine. The members of the Task Group
11 shall be members until they resign, are replaced by the
12 Governor, or the Task Group is abolished. Except as provided
13 in this Act, the Task Group shall be subject to the Open
14 Meetings Act and the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act.
15 Any action required to be taken by the Task Group under this
16 Act shall be taken by a majority vote of its members.
17 (b) To protect the public health, safety and welfare,
18 the Task Group shall develop proposed criteria for selection
19 of a site for a facility for the disposal of low-level
20 radioactive waste away from the point of generation.
21 Principal criteria shall relate to the geographic, geologic,
22 seismologic, tectonic, hydrologic, and other scientific
23 conditions best suited for a low-level radioactive waste
24 disposal facility. Supplemental criteria may relate to land
25 use (including (i) the location of existing underground mines
26 and (ii) the exclusion of State parks, State conservation
27 areas, and other State owned lands identified by the Task
28 Group), economics, transportation, meteorology, and any other
29 matter identified by the Task Group as relating to desirable
30 conditions for a low-level radioactive waste disposal
31 facility. All of the criteria shall be as specific as
32 possible.
33 The chairman of the Task Group shall publish a notice of
34 availability of the proposed criteria in the State newspaper,
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1 make copies of the proposed criteria available without charge
2 to the public, and hold public hearings to receive comments
3 on the proposed criteria. Written comments on the proposed
4 criteria may be submitted to the chairman of the Task Group
5 within a time period to be determined by the Task Group.
6 Upon completion of the review of timely submitted comments on
7 the proposed criteria, the Task Group shall adopt criteria
8 for selection of a site for a facility for the disposal of
9 low-level radioactive waste away from the point of
10 generation. Adoption of the criteria is not subject to the
11 Illinois Administrative Procedure Act. The chairman of the
12 Task Group shall provide copies of the criteria to the
13 Governor, the President and Minority Leader of the Senate,
14 the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House, and all county
15 boards in the State of Illinois and shall make copies of the
16 criteria available without charge to the public.
17 (c) (1) Upon adoption of the criteria, the Director of
18 Natural Resources shall direct the Illinois State
19 Geological and Water Surveys to screen the State of
20 Illinois and identify at least 10 locations, each of at
21 least 640 acres, that appear likely to meet the criteria.
22 In addition to screening the State of Illinois, the
23 Illinois State Geological and Water Surveys shall also
24 evaluate any location of at least 640 acres that is
25 volunteered by a land owner or unit of local government
26 to determine whether the volunteered location appears
27 likely to meet the criteria. The results of the
28 state-wide screening and evaluation of volunteered
29 locations shall be published in a report that shall be
30 submitted to the chairman of the Task Group. The
31 chairman of the Task Group shall provide copies of the
32 report to the Governor, the President and Minority Leader
33 of the Senate, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the
34 House, all of the county boards in the State of Illinois,
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1 and each city, village, and incorporated town within a 5
2 mile radius of each location identified in the report and
3 shall make copies of the report available without charge
4 to the public.
5 (2) The governing authority of a county, city,
6 village, or incorporated town may reject the further
7 consideration under this Section of a site identified by
8 the Illinois State Geological and Water Surveys under
9 subdivision (1) if all or a portion of the site is
10 located within the boundaries of the county, city,
11 village, or incorporated town.
12 (d) Upon publication of the report under subsection (c),
13 the contractor selected by the Department of Nuclear Safety
14 under Section 5 to develop the low-level radioactive waste
15 disposal facility shall conduct evaluations, including
16 possible intrusive field investigations, of the locations
17 that have been identified in the report under subsection (c)
18 as likely to satisfy the criteria adopted under subsection
19 (b).
20 (e) Upon completion of the evaluations under subsection
21 (d), the contractor shall select 3 sites of at least 640
22 acres that appear promising for development for a low-level
23 radioactive waste disposal facility. In selection of the 3
24 sites, the contractor shall give preference to sites in
25 locations that were volunteered, unless those sites are
26 clearly less promising for the development of a low-level
27 radioactive waste disposal facility than sites in other
28 locations evaluated. The contractor may conduct any other
29 evaluation of the 3 sites selected under this subsection that
30 the contractor deems appropriate to determine whether the
31 sites satisfy the criteria adopted under subsection (b).
32 Upon completion of such evaluations, the contractor shall
33 prepare a report on all of the evaluations of the 3 sites.
34 (f) The contractor shall submit the report prepared
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1 under subsection (e) to the chairman of the Task Group. The
2 chairman of the Task Group shall publish in newspapers of
3 general circulation in the counties in which the 3 sites are
4 located a notice of the availability of the report and a
5 notice of a public meeting. The chairman of the Task Group
6 shall also provide copies of the report and the notice to the
7 Governor, the President and Minority Leader of the Senate,
8 the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House, members of the
9 General Assembly from the legislative district in which each
10 site is located, county boards of the counties containing the
11 sites, and each city, village, and incorporated town within a
12 5 mile radius of each site and shall make copies of the
13 report available without charge to the public.
14 (g) The chairman of the Task Group shall convene public
15 meetings on the sites evaluated in the report under
16 subsection (e). At the public meeting, the contractor shall
17 present the results of the evaluations of the sites. The
18 Task Group shall receive such other written and oral
19 information about the sites that may be submitted at the
20 meeting. Following the meetings, the Task Group shall decide
21 which of the sites satisfies the criteria adopted under
22 subsection (b). If the Task Group determines that one or
23 more of the sites does not satisfy the criteria, the
24 contractor shall propose additional sites from the locations
25 determined in the report under subsection (c) as likely to
26 satisfy the criteria which shall be the subject of a public
27 meeting under this subsection. The contractor shall propose
28 additional sites, and the Task Group shall conduct additional
29 public meetings, until the Task Group has approved 3 sites as
30 satisfying the criteria adopted under subsection (b).
31 (h) Following the Task Group's decision that 3 sites
32 satisfy the criteria adopted under subsection (b), the
33 contractor shall select one of the sites for characterization
34 and notify the Task Group of the site selected. Upon receipt
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1 of the notification of a site for characterization, the Task
2 Group shall be abolished and its records transferred to the
3 Department of Nuclear Safety.
4 (Source: P.A. 88-458; 89-445, eff. 2-7-96; 89-479, eff.
5 6-18-96.)
6 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
7 becoming law.